104 Mr. Patterson on the Cydippe Pomiformis. 



of fresh water. No luminosity ensued ; and hence if Mr. Bennett's inference 

 be applicable to the Beroe, I may feel warranted in concluding that the C. Pomi- 

 formis is not possessed of any luminous property. 



But although the experiment failed, so far as the object for which it was 

 performed was concerned, it was not utterly fruitless, for it showed the effect 

 produced on the Beroes by immersion in fresh water. The moment they came 

 into contact with the fluid, the action of the cilia ceased, or was limited to two or 

 three irregular strokes, and the animal sank, apparently lifeless, to the bottom of 

 the jar. If instantly removed, and replaced in sea water, the cilia began again 

 to vibrate, but had acquired a degree of opacity they had not previously pos- 

 sessed, and the entire body seemed in some degree contracted, and less transpa- 

 rent than before. If a Beroe be plunged into boiling water or alcohol, the 

 instantaneous change from its ordinary diaphanous appearance is very con- 

 spicuous. 



The ovaries in the specimen examined by Dr. Grant " consisted of two 

 lengthened clusters of small spherical gemmules of a lively crimson colour, ex- 

 tending along the sides of the intestine and stomach." In above five hundred 

 individuals of the present species, which I have had in different years the oppor- 

 tunity of observing, between May and October, these crimson gemmules were 

 totally wanting. In the glass jars in which they were kept, a glutinous substance 

 might occasionally be seen, in some cases in contact with the tentacula* of the 

 animal. In it were numerous small bright transparent gemmules, which I 

 thought might be ova. This conjecture was verified, by placing under the 

 powerful microscope of my friend. Dr. J. L. Drummond, portions of the body 

 of a Beroe, from which most of the watery particles had been evaporated. We 

 then distinctly saw the colourless ova, which were similar to those I had formerly 

 seen In the jars. On one occasion, in the glass vessels in which some specimens 

 of B. Hibernica were kept, I observed two glutinous strings, one about three, 

 and the other about five Inches in length, and both containing numerous ova, 

 ranged at irregular intervals, and sometimes disposed in clusters. 



* When treating of the genus Eucharis of Peron, to which the present species would belong, 

 Lesson remarks, with a note of interrogation, " De ce retrecissement sur les cotes partent deux 

 prolongemens cirrhigeres, portant peut-etre les ovaires ?" — An7iales des Sciences Naturelles, 

 tome V. p. 252. 



