I72 HYDROIDA II 



monosiphonic main stem, which not infrequently appears to be diehotomously branched. The bran- 

 ches and the hydrotheca stalks are ringed close above their origin, and below the hydrothecse, other- 

 wise smooth. The hydrothecse are twice to three times as long as broad, cylindrical, or rather inversely 

 conical, passing over by an evenly curved transition into a short, almost cylindrical basal part; the 

 basal chamber is small, bounded at the top by a fine, well developed diaphragm, often somewhat 

 assymetrically placed. The hydrotheca margin is provided with seven to fourteen markedly prominent 

 pointed or pointedly rounded teeth. 



The gonothecee are attached by short, ringed stalks proceeding from stem or branches, rarely 

 from the stolons. They are inversely conical or slightly oval, elongated, cut off transversely at the 

 distal end, without neck. The gonophores develope into cryptomedusoid meconidia, projecting from 

 the gonotheca without breaking away. The larval development takes place within the interior of 

 the meconidium {Gcmothyrcra medusae). 



Material : 



"Thor" 64°o2' N., 22°33' W., depth 34 metres 



Iceland: (without further details) on the back of a Dinematura ferox taken from a Somniosus 

 microcephalics. 



Laomedea gracilis is a southern visitor to the northern waters (fig. LXXXVIII) where it pene- 

 trates up to the northern point of Norway. The species is altogether of rare occurrence here, but 

 has been taken more especially about the British Isles. One or two finds show that it also occurs 

 sparsely at the Faroe Islands and south-west Iceland, always in the middle or upper third of the 

 littoral region. 



Gen. Bonneviella (Broch). 



Stolonial colonies with enormous, often slightly bilateral hydrothecas, having a finely built 

 diaphragm. The large polyps can be withdrawn entirely into the hydrotheca. The hydranth has a 

 crown of strong tentacles with multiserial endoderm; the oral part is thin, forming a thin lamella, 

 consisting of two cell-layers, which a little above the tentacle base extend out like a velum in towards 

 the central oral aperture. The tentacle base thrusts itself into the polyp, so that a large proboscoidal 

 cavity is formed between this and the oral aperture. The gastral endoderm is uniformly developed. 



As already mentioned, I am unable to agree with Nutting, who is inclined (1915 p. 94) to 

 support the view advanced by me in a former work (1909 p. 197), that the ectoderm covers the ten- 

 tacle base and the inner side of the velum-like proboscoidal part. Kuhn (1913 p. 253) is justified in 

 doubting whether the part in question can be reckoned as belonging to the endoderm, and I am 

 more disposed to follow him here, considering the part as an extreme development of the indifferent 

 endoderm cell-layer, as found for instance on the proboscis of Campanulariidce. The point can, how- 

 ever, only be decided by study of the polyp development. The systematic position of the genus is 

 still altogether doubtful. 



