MEDUSAE. 153 



Solmundella bitentaculata (Quoy et Gaimard), 1833 Plate IV., figs. 1 to 6. 



Charybdea bitentaculata, Quoy et Gaimard (1833, tome v., p. 295, plate xxv., figs. 4 and 5). 



JEginella bitentaculata, Haeckel (1879). 



Solmundella bitentaculata, Browne (1901, p. 711, plate lvi., fig. 3). 



Description of the Adult. Umbrella cone-shaped, usually a little broader than 

 high. Stomach circular and flat, nearly as wide as the umbrella, having eight lateral 

 poucbes which are rectangular in shape and about twice as broad as high. Mouth 

 circular, with an everted rim. Gonads on the inner wall of the pouches and also 

 extending over the outer half of the lower wall of the stomach, forming a continuous 

 band. Two opposite tentacles, which are situated above the stomach, and are about 

 two to three times longer than the diameter of the umbrella. Peronial bands and 

 grooves present. Sense-organs 24, perhaps more, usually three in each octant. 



Size : Umbrella up to 9 millims. in height and width. 



Locality : Galle, in February and August ; Modragam Paar and Cheval Paar, in 

 November ; and Trincomalee. 



Distribution : Australasian seas ; Amboina Island (Quoy et Gaimard). Singapore 

 (Bedford ; in Coll. E.T.B.). Indian Ocean ; Maldive Islands (Bigelow, 1904, p. 261, 

 under the name of JEginella dissonema ; and Browne). 



Notes. The collection contains 39 specimens ; only a few are in good condition, and 

 most of them are about 3 millims. to 5 millims. in diameter. 



The umbrella is cone-shaped and nearly as high as broad. There is a slight 

 variation in its shape, as the apex is more rounded in some specimens than in others. 

 All the specimens have the apex of the umbrella more or less battered down so that 

 it is impossible to note its exact shape, but it is not so pointed as that shown in the 

 figure given by Quoy and Gaimard. The peronial groove below each tentacle is 

 very deep, and goes right back to the wall of the sub-umbrella. The stomach is 

 circular and flat and has eight lateral pouches. The upper w 7 all of the stomach is 

 either flat or slightly convex. The lower wall is also flat, with a circular mouth in 

 the centre. The mouth, when fully expanded, is almost as wide as the diameter of 

 the stomach. Its natural size is apparently about one-third to one-quarter the 

 diameter of the stomach, but when closed the opening is very small. The margin of 

 the mouth has an everted rim, and it does not usually hang down so low as in the 

 specimen figured by me in the Maldive Report. 



Haeckel, in his description of JEginella dissonema, and also Mayer (1900, p. 66, 

 plate xiv.) state that there are four double perradial canals, each canal being divided 

 into two by a longitudinal septum (called by Haeckel the peronium). The 

 appearance of a double radial canal was seen in the two Maldive specimens, and also 

 very plainly in some of the specimens in this collection, especially when the umbrella 

 had been lightly stained. Transverse sections, however, do not confirm the presence 

 of radial canals, and, after cutting several complete series, I have come to the 

 conclusion that they are a delusion. 



x 



