NARCOMEDUSAE 79 



each other by their numbers of tentacles. As mentioned below, however, I have seen two specimens 

 of S. marshalli with as many as 20 tentacles, so that in certain cases specific identification might be 

 doubtful, if no other distinguishing features could be pointed out. A difference seems to exist in 

 the number of statocysts, but these are very readily lost in both species. Apparently, however, the 

 outline of the gastric pouches presents a characteristic difference between the two species. The radial 

 ' elevations ' and ' depressions ', 24 32 in number, on the subumbrellar side of the disc, mentioned and 

 figured by Fewkes (1886 pp. 954 ff.) in his description of S. incisa, evidently mark the outline of the 

 gastric pouches, which themselves had disappeared. According to the figure, these pouches were oval, 

 somewhat elongated and well separated from each other. In 1938 (p. 129) Bigelow likewise described 

 the pouches of incisa as 'oval in outline and somewhat longer than broad'. I have been able to note 

 this in several, otherwise much damaged, specimens in the collection from the 'Dana' expeditions. 

 Therefore, in cases of doubt, e.g. in fragmentary specimens, the outline of the gastric pouches provides 

 us with a reliable distinguishing character, and I think we may recognize three distinct species of 

 Solmissus : albescens in the Mediterranean, and incisa and marshalli, both of which are widely distributed 

 in the great oceans. 



Solmissus marshalli Agassiz & Mayer 1902 



(Text-fig. 14) 



1902 Solmissus marshalli kgzssiz & Mayer, p. 151. PI. 5, figs. 23-5. 

 1906 Solmaris punctatiis Mayer, p. 1133. 



1909 Solmissus marshalli Bigelow, p. 64. PI. 16, figs. 5-6; PI. 21, figs. 4, 6-8. 

 1919 Solmissus marshalli Bigelow, p. 329. 

 1928 Solmissus marshalli Uchida, p. 89. 

 1940 Solmissus marshalli Bigelow, p. 308. 



Occurrence: Stns 102, 270, 273, 276, 284, 286, 287, 298, 407, 440, 448, 680, 698, 701, 702, 1371, 1373, 1374, 1568, 

 1585, 1606, 1768, 2053, 2059, 2061. (For details of position, date, etc., see Table i, p. no.) 



St. 1585 is off the coast of Somaliland, East Africa; Stns 440, 1371, 1373, 1374 and 1568 are off 

 the south-east coast of Africa; St. 680 is off the Atlantic coast of Brazil; the other localities are scat- 

 tered over the eastern Atlantic from south-west of the Cape of Good Hope to the Cape Verde Islands 

 (see chart, text-fig. 14). 



The bathymetrical range is uncertain. At three of the stations it was apparently taken in deep water, 

 500-250 m. (St. 102), 900-550 m. (St. 2053), and 1900-1500 m. (St. 2061). In all the other localities 

 it was taken in hauls reaching to the surface, sometimes from deep water, but mainly from depths of 

 less than 300 or 200 m. 



Most of the specimens are less than 35 mm. in diameter, but one is 43 mm. (St. 2059). The mar- 

 ginal sensory clubs could only be counted in two specimens and then only in some few of the lappets; 

 in a specimen 31 mm. wide (St. 1371) there are about 10, in a specimen 35 mm. wide (St. 1373) two 

 of the lappets have at least 9. 



The number of tentacles in specimens of different size will be seen from the following table: 



