[CEYLON PEARL OYSTER FISHERIES 1905 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORTS, No. XXVII.l 



REPORT 



ON THE 



MEDUSA 



(HYDROMEDUS^E, SCYPHOMEDUS.E and CTENOPHORA) 



COLLECTED BY 



Professor HERDMAN, at CEYLON, in 1902. 



BY 

 EDWARD T. BROWNE, B.A., 



ZOOLOGICAL RESEARCH LABORATORY, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. 



[With FOUR PLATES.] 



INTRODUCTION. 



The collection of Medusae brought back by Professor Herdman from Ceylon and 

 another forwarded by Mr. James Hornell were kindly sent to me by Professor 

 Herdman for examination. So far as I know there are no previous records relating 

 to the medusas of Ceylon, except for the Siphonophora which have been specially 

 studied on the spot by Haeckel. Unfortunately none of his beautiful species occur 

 in the collection. 



The specimens come chiefly from two places Galle, at the south of Ceylon, and 

 the Pearl Banks in the Gulf of Manaar. It is distinctly a littoral collection from 

 shallow water, and the littoral character is shown by the number of Anthomedusse 

 and Leptornedusse. The collection has not brought to light any new genera, nor are 

 the species in any way very remarkable, considering that they live within a tropical 

 region, in a sea at about 80 F. From a geographical point of view the collection is a 

 valuable one, as it has increased our knowledge of the distribution of genera. 



Some of the specimens had been splendidly preserved and were a pleasure to work 

 with, but many were in bad condition, more or less broken up, and these gave me 

 endless trouble. I have endeavoured, as far as possible, to give such details as I hope 



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