THE SCYPHOMEDUSH OF THE AUSTRALIAN 



BY E. v. LEXDEXFELD, Pn.D. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE difficulty connected with the preservation of these beautiful animals has 

 been a great obstacle in the way of a thorough knowledge of them. 



A number of species have been described from Australia in narratives 

 of voyages. Some of these were figured from life on the ship. These figures 

 are the only true guide to the identification of old descriptions with the forms 

 we meet with. The descriptions given by the older authors are often short 

 diagnoses, and therefore utterly useless ; even some of the more recently 

 described forms appear doubtful. 



Haeckel (Das System der Medusen, 1879) has described a number of Aus- 

 tralian species from spirit specimens, which were mostly very defective, so 

 that many of his forms appear doubtful. It is by no means unlikely that 

 some of his species are only the young stages of others. (Glaus, Unter- 

 suchungen tiber die Organisation und Entwickelung der Medusen, 1883.) 

 On the whole our knowledge of the Australian Scyphomedusse was not at all 

 in proportion to the gi^eat abundance, variety, and beauty of the Australian 

 jelly-fish, when I, four years ago, commenced my studies of the Australian 

 Ccelenterates. 



Although some of the forms are very abundant, the number of species is 

 not very great. I myself have observed three species in New Zealand, three 

 species on the coast of Victoria, and five species in Port Jackson. Two of the 

 latter are identical with the Victorian species. Of these nine species I was 

 able to describe six ; of the other three not sufficiently well preserved speci- 

 mens were obtained by me. Of these six species only one had been previously 

 A 



