330 MEDUS.E OF THE WORLD. 



jEquorea "victoria" Maas = .55. forskalea? 



Mesonema victor ia,MvRBACH and Shearer, 1902, Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser.7,vol. 9, p. 72; i903,Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 

 vol. 2, p. 180, plate 19, figs. 1-2; plate 22, fig. 2. — Bigelow, H. B., 1909, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool. at Harvard College, 

 vol. 37, p. 174. 



Mquorea victoria, Maas, 1905, Craspedoten Medusen der Siboga Expedition, Monog. 10, p. 43. 



Bell hemispherical, 70 mm. wide. More than 100 tentacles and numerous small marginal 

 papillae. Lithocysts and excretory papillae are present. No ocelli. Peduncle hemispherical. 

 Mouth lobed. Lobes serrated and as numerous as the radial-canals. About 100 radial-canals, 

 each covered on its outer surface by a ridge of glandular cells. Gonads and bell-margin white, 

 with a slight trace of blue in the large tentacles. Victoria Harbor, Puget Sound. Esquimalt 

 Harbor. North Pacific coast of North America. 



I can not distinguish this medusa from AZquorea forskalea of the Atlantic and Mediter- 

 ranean. Were it described from the Atlantic I would not hesitate to designate it JE. forskalea. 

 As Bigelow, 1909, states it is probably identical with ZygoJactyla fiava A. Agassiz, 1865. 



jEquorea maldivensis Browne. 



Mquorca maldivensis, Browne, 1904, Fauna and Geog. Maldive and Laccadive Archipelagoes, vol. 2, p. 732, plate 56, figs. 4-12. 



Bell 75 mm. high, flatter than a hemisphere, with thick walls. 30 to 50 tentacles with 

 large basal bulbs and excretory pores. 2 to 4 marginal bulbs between each successive pair 

 of tentacles. Numerous small lithocysts, 15 to 20 between each successive pair of tentacles. 

 50 to 70 straight, simple radial-canals with gonads occupying nearly their entire lengths. 

 Stomach with circular outline, about half as wide as the bell. Lips small, about as numerous 

 as the radial-canals. Mouth capable of closing. Maldive Islands, Indian Ocean, Haddu- 

 mati Atoll. It may be identical with ALnuorea forskalea or M. macrodactyla. (See pages 325 



and 333-) 



jEquorea floridana Mayer. 



Plate 43, figs. 6 and 7. 



Rhegmatodes foridanus, Agassiz, L., 1862, Cont. Nat. Hist. U. S., vol. 4, p. 361. — Agassiz, A., 1865, North Amer. Acal., p. 



67, fig. 139. 

 Mquorea foridana, Mayer, 1900, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. at Harvard College, vol. 37, p. 61. 

 Rhegmatodes foridana, Haeckel, 1879, Syst. der Medusen, p. 223. 



The bell is about 30 to 50 mm. in diameter, flatter than a hemisphere, and the gelatinous 

 substance is thick at the center, with a low, dome-like apex, but it becomes thinner as one 

 approaches the margin. 80 to 100 very small, slender tentacles with tapering, hollow basal 

 bulbs; the tentacles about one-seventh to one-half as long as bell-radius and about 4 times 

 as numerous as radial-canals. Just above each tentacle-bulb is a hollow, spur-like papilla, 

 with a blunt extremity covered with nematocysts. There are also about 3 tentacle rudiments 

 with papillae between each successive pair of tentacles (plate 43, fig. 7). The very minute 

 lithocysts are also about 4 times as numerous as the tentacles and each one contains 2 spherical 

 concretions; they are situated at the sides of the tentacle-bulbs and between the rudimentary 

 bulbs on the margin. Velum is narrow. 16 to 24 extremely narrow radial-canals, which arise 

 separately and at equal intervals from the edge of the stomach and extend straight out to 

 the circular vessel. The narrow linear gonads are developed upon these canals and do not 

 extend to the circular vessel. They are widest at a point about the velum's width above the 

 circular vessel and gradually taper inward toward the edge of the stomach. Stomach very 

 small, about one-seventh as wide as bell-diameter and about one-fifth as high as wide. Mouth 

 widely open, surrounded by small crenulated lips which are as numerous as the radial-canals. 

 The stomach is a delicate turquoise, all the other parts being colorless. (See fig. 188.) 



This form may be at once distinguished by its minute tentacles and very slender, thread- 

 like radial-canals. It is found at Key West and Tortugas, Florida, in April to June. It is 

 extremely languid in its movements and is commonly found floating near the surface on calm 

 days. It is possibly only a variety of Mquorea forskalea, but I have never found intergrading 

 forms. 



