Papers in Marine Biology and Oceanography, Suppl. to vol. 3 of Deep-Sea Researcli. pp. 149-168. 



A revision of Ernst Haeckel's determinations of a collection of 

 Medusae belonging to the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen 



By P. L. Kramp 

 Zoological Museum, Copenhagen 



Summary— The collection of medusae sent from the Zoological Museum of the University of Copen- 

 hagen to Ernst Haeckel for identification comprised 231 numbers; from 166 of these the specimens 

 are still in our collection and are the subject of this revision. 



Specimens from 12 localities were not identified with certainty by Haeckel; they belong to 9 

 different species, 6 of which are described in previous literature, whereas 3 species have been 

 described after the publication of Haeckel's monograph. 



In the collection and the accompanying list 54 species are provided with generic and specific name 

 in Haeckel's hand-writing. After the revision the actual number of species is reduced to 37. 



26 species are designated as new and are represented by their type-specimens or cotypes; 5 of these 

 may be retained as valid species, 3 of them with unaltered generic name; the remaining 21 of 

 Haeckel's new species belong to 15 species previously described. 



Among the 28 species, which are not marked as new, 10 are synonyms, and 8 are erroneously 

 identified. 



While Ernst Haeckel prepared his famous monograph, " Das System der 

 Medusen ", which was published in 1879-80, he borrowed the whole collection of 

 medusae belonging to the Zoological Museum of the University of Copenhagen. The 

 Danish zoologist Japetus Steenstrup had organized a fruitful collecting of marine 

 animals, particularly pelagic ones, by officials in Greenland (inspector Olrik and 

 others) and captains and physicians on Danish merchant vessels (Andrea, Bang, 

 Holboll, Hygom, etc.) on their journeys to Greenland, the West Indies, South 

 America, India and China. The result was that, until the far-going oceanographical 

 expeditions began with the cruise of the Challenger in 1873-76, the museum in 

 Copenhagen possessed one of the greatest collections of marine animals in the world. 



The collection of medusae was sent to Haeckel in Jena accompanied by a detailed 

 list written by Chr. Lutken with (1) provisional determinations by Steenstrup and 

 LiJTKEN, (2) localities, (3) names of collectors, (4) an empty column, in which Haeckel 

 wrote his own determinations of the species. The list, which contains 231 numbers, 

 is still in our museum and is a document of great value, giving us the names of all the 

 species in Haeckel's own hand-writing (see Fig. 1). The majority of specimens are also 

 still in our collection. Many of them are in a fairly good condition, though they must be 

 handled with care, because they are more or less brittle in consequence of their being 

 preserved in alcohol. 



Many of the species described or recorded by Haeckel have been the subject of 

 much discussion, and it has often been desirable to re-examine the original specimens. 

 It is not to be denied that Haeckel's artistic temperament and fertile imagination 

 sometimes led him to construct a detailed description and beautiful drawings from 

 an ugly and mutilated specimen. But he also had excellent powers of observation, 

 and when his descriptions and figures are based on living or tolerably well-preserved 



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