[56 PL. Kramp 



LEPTOMEDUSAE 



Thaumantias eschscholtzii Haeckel. 



1879, p. 129, PI. VIII, fig. 4. 

 [Tiaropsis multicirrata (M. Sars).] 

 (56) Greenland; Holboll, 1841. 1 specimen. 

 (58) Greenland, 1865. 2 specimens. 

 The description of this species was one of Haeckel's great mistakes. The beautiful 

 figure is reproduced in several handbooks as a typical " Thaumantias ", a leptomedusa, 

 without any kind of marginal sense organs. As a matter of fact, it has eight large, 

 black ocelli adjacent to eight large, open marginal vesicles. 



When as a young man, in 1915, I commenced my work at the Zoological Museum 

 of Copenhagen, I found the specimens mentioned above, and of course I was very 

 interested to see the type specimens of the famous Thaumantias eschscholtzii, but while 

 looking at them through an ordinary hand lens I saw eight black spots on their 

 umbrella margin, and a closer examination revealed the fact that they belonged to the 

 common and well-known Tiaropsis multicirrata. This surprising discovery was 

 published by me in the reports of the Danish Ingolf-Expedition (Kramp, 1919, p. 78; 

 see also my revision of the Mitrocomidae, 1932, p. 364). To my regret " Thaumantias 

 eschscholtzii " with a reproduction of the usual figure reappeared in Kukenthal's 

 " Handbuch der Zoologie ", Bd. I, 1924. The author of the article on Hydroida, 

 my friend Hj. Broch, Oslo, told me that his manuscript was delivered before 1914, 

 and when the printing of the " Handbuch " was resumed after the war, he was not 

 allowed to alter anything in his original text. Since then, however, I think that 

 " Thaumantias eschscholtzii " has been regarded as an obsolete name. 



Staurostoma laciniata. 



1879, p. 130. 



[Staurophora mertensi Brandt.] 



(164) 43' N. 61° 30' W., near Nova Scotia, Canada; Hedemann. Fragments 



of about 5 specimens. 

 The specimens were labelled Staurostoma laciniata Agassiz, and in the monograph 

 it is placed among the Thaumantidae, whereas Staurophora mertensi Brandt, which is 

 the same species, is mentioned (p. 149) under the Cannotidae. 



Laodice cruciata. 

 1879, p. 132. 

 [Laodicea undulata Forbes & Goodsir.] 

 (53, 54) 59' 07' N. 13° 32' W., north of Rockall; Moberg. 5 specimens, labelled 



Laodice cruciata. 

 (140) 59° N. 18' W., between Iceland and Rockall; Olrik. 3 specimens, 

 labelled Laodice cruciata. 



(165) 58-59° N. 13-15° W., north of Rockall; Rink, 1852. 5 specimens, 



labelled Thaumantias (pilosellal). 

 As demonstrated by Browne (1896, p. 482) there is only one single name among 

 Haeckel's 25 synonyms of " Laodice cruciata ", which really refers to a Laodicea, 

 viz. " Thaumantias mediterranea " Gegenbaur (one of Haeckel's synonyms was 



