370 



BULLETIN OP THE BUREAU OP FISHERIES. 



Filelliun serpens (Hassall). 



Campatiutaria serpens Hassall, Trans. Micro. Soc, m, 1852, p. 163. 



FileUum serpens Hincks. Br. Hydroid Zoophytes, 186S, p. 214. 



Lafera serpens Bonnevie, Norske Nordhavs. Ex., 1899, p. 63. 



Trophosome. — Stolon usually creeping over other hydroids; hydrothecae larger than in F. expansum, 

 adherent for about two-thirds of the length ; not annidated but sometimes striated transversely just below 

 the rim; margin not flaring. 



Gonosome. — "Coppinia with thin soft tubes, lying close to the gonangia; irregularly curved." 

 (Bonnevie.) 



The gonosome was not found. The description given by Bonnevie is the only one I have seen. 



Family HEBELLID.S. 



(Used by Nutting in MSS.) 



Trophosome. — Colony simple, creeping; hydranth with conical or dome-shaped proboscis; hydro- 

 thecae tubular, diaphragm present, no operculum. 



Gonosome. — Gonangia separate, not collected in a mass. 



Fig. 34. — Hebella calcarata (A. Agassiz). A, colony growing over Pasylhea quadridentata; B, gonosome from stolon growing 

 over the same hydroid; C, stolon growing on the surface of gulfweed, with hydrothecae and gonangia. 



As indicated in my paper on " West Coast Hydroids, " I have felt that there was no proper place for 

 the genus Hebella among the Calyptoblastic families that up to the present have been established. To 

 this difficulty another was added, w'hen I came to the study of the Beaufort material, as I found a species 

 that agreed with the genus Hebella in every respect except that the gonophores produced sporosacs 

 instead of free medusae. This was not a new species, as it was described by Ritchie under the name, 

 Cam(>anularia inutabilis " and by Warren, under the name Lafaia magna.b It can not belong to the genus 

 Campanularia, as it has a tubular hydrotheca and a dome-shaped or conical proboscis, nor to the genus 

 Lafa:a, as there is a diaphragm present in the hydrotheca and the gonangia are not collected into a 

 Coppinia mass. 



In discussing the matter with Prof. Nutting I found that in his manuscript dealing with the Lafoea 

 group, a portion of his Monograph of American Hydroids not yet published, he had instituted a new 

 family, the Hebellidse, to include the genus Hebella, the absence of the Coppinia mass and the 

 presence of a diaphragm at the base of the hydrotheca distinguishing it from the Lafoeidse and the conical 

 proboscis separating it from the Campanularida;. This seemed a satisfactory solution to the difficulty, 

 as it would not only supply a home for the genus Hebella, but would also include the other species 

 to which reference has been made. To accommodate this species a new genus must be estab- 



« The Marine Fauna of Cape Verde Islands, 1907, p. 504. 



* Natal Hydroids, 1908, p. 342. 



