518 



MEDUSA OF THE WORLD. 



Genus CHIRODROPUS Haeckel, 1880. 



Chirodropus, HAECKEL, 1880, Syst. der Medusen, p. 447. 



The type species is Chirodropus gorilla Haeckel, of the Atlantic coast of equatorial Africa. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



Carybdeidae with 8 branched, or feathered, sac-like 

 projections which extend from the 4 perradial stomach- 

 pouches into the bell-cavity. The free margins of the 

 gonads show grape-like swellings. With 4 hand-like 

 pedalia. 



This genus resembles Chiropsalmus, but is distin- 

 guished by its branched hernia-like pouches in the bell- 

 cavity, whereas in Chiropsalmus these projections are 

 unbranched; moreover, in Chiropsalmus, the free mar- 

 gins of the gonads are simple and entire, whereas in 

 Chirodropus they are broken up into grape-like clusters 

 of swellings. 



Chirodropus gorilla Haeckel. 



Chirodropus gorilla, HAECKEL, 1 880, Syst. der Medusen, p. 448, taf. 26, 

 fign. 1-8. 



Bell dome-shaped, evenly rounded above and in- 

 cluding the velarium, which hangs downward, 150 mm. 

 high and 120 wide. Sides rounded; the sculptured 

 angles usually seen on surface of exumbrella in Charyb- 

 deidae are very poorly developed. 



The 4 interradial pedalia are hand-like, asymmet- 

 rical and hardly one-fourth as long as bell-height. Each 

 pedalium gives rise to 9 long, narrow, tapering gelati- 

 nous finger-like processes, each bearing a long, flexible, 

 tapering tentacle longer than bell-height. Thus there 

 are 36 tentacles in all. 



The 4 perradial sensory niches are deep and heart- 

 shaped. They are set in the sides of the bell at a some- 

 what higher level than the pedalia and are about 60 mm. 

 above velar margin. The sense-club is mounted upon 

 a slender stalk. Number of eyes ( ?) 



Below the marginal nerve-ring are 16 gelatinous 

 lappets which form an integral part of the wide velarium 

 which projects downward. The 16 lappets are cleft in 

 the 4 interradii and in the 8 adradii, and are divided 

 by the 4 perradial frenulae. The 8 lappets flanking the 4 frenulae are about 1.5 times as 

 long as the 8 which flank the 4 interradial pedalia. These lappets contain diverticula of the 

 perradial stomach-pouches and each lappet-pouch gives rise to about 6 dendritically branched 

 velar canals, which only occasionally anastomose and which extend outward nearly to margin 

 of velarium, running mainly parallel one to another. 



Each perradial stomach-pouch gives rise to a pair of elongate, tapering, hollow processes, 

 which project downward into the bell-cavity and bear numerous finger-like side processes, 

 all of which arise from inner (axial) side of main process. These processes are thus much 

 more complex than the simple finger-shaped ones of Chiropsalmus. Central stomach large 

 and urn-shaped, 4-sided, bound to subumbrella by 4 perradial mesenteries. There are 8 

 dendritic, digestive glands, a pair on either side of each perradial corner of stomach-cavity. 

 The 4 pairs of gonads are attached to the subumbrella sides of the 4 interradial septa, 

 as in other Carybdeidae. Their free outer margins bear grape-like clusters of swellings. The 

 only specimen studied by Haeckel was a male, found at Chenchozo Loango, Lower Guinea, 

 about 5 S. lat. West coast of Africa. Described in detail by Haeckel who is the only natur- 

 alist who has seen the medusa. 



FIG. 



332. Chirodropus gorilla, 

 after Haeckel, in Das Syst. 

 der Medusen. 



