LEPTOMEDUSAE 29 



Discovery specimen has also fallen into several pieces, but some of the isolated parts are in good 

 condition. The gelatinous substance is very thick. Only a small, densely folded piece of the stomach is 

 retained. The gonads (male) are well preserved ; each of them is about 28 mm. long and 8 mm. broad, 

 a funnel-shaped prolongation from the stomach encloses their lower surface almost throughout their 

 entire length. The gonads are complexly folded; they have about 15 primary pockets on each side, each 

 of them further divided into two to four or five lamellar folds. The median line, by which the radial 

 canal with the gonads is attached to the subumbrella, is irregularly zigzag, and the lateral diverticula 

 are not attached to the subumbrella. The distance from the gonad to the ring-canal is 12 mm. 



The tentacle bulbs are elongated, somewhat laterally compressed, convex on the abaxial side, and 

 very close together. Only a few cordyli are retained, but in one place it can be seen that they alternate 

 with the tentacles. They are club-shaped, but the pedicel is not very thin, exactly as in Browne's 

 figure ; their central cavity is very narrow. 



If we presume that the stomach has been about 20 mm. wide, the diameter of the entire specimen 

 was probably about 100 mm. 



According to a note on the label, the colour of the gonads was 'a very pale dull (or dirty) white 

 pink'. 



The description given by Vanhoffen indicates that the Gauss specimen really belonged to this same 

 species, though he stated that the stomach, gonads and tentacles of the living specimen had a dark 

 coffee-brown colour. 



Distribution. Cape Adare and McMurdo Sound, Victoria Land (Browne); Gauss Station 

 (Vanhoffen). The locality, where the present specimen was taken, off the South Orkney Islands, is 

 on the opposite side of the Antarctic Continent. 



Staurophora mertensi Brandt 1838 



1908 Staurophora falklandica Browne, p. 235. PI. i, figs. 1-7. 



1919 Staurophora mertensii Kramp, p. 39. PI. i, fig. 9; PI. 2, figs. 9-10; PL 3, fig. 7. History and synonymy. 



1953 Staurophora mertensi Russell, p. 239. Text-figs. 132-7. 



Occurrence: St. 60. 21. v. 26. 50° 45' S, 56° 33' W. Net: N 100 H 7s(-o) m. Fragments. 



St. 1895. 26. xi. 36. 49° 55' 12" S, 60° 59' 06" W. Net: N loo H 0-5 m. 5 specimens. 



St. 1896. 7. xi. 36. 49° 55' 06" S, 62° 05' W. Net: N 70 V 140-100 m. Fragments of 2 specimens. 



St. 1897. 27. xi. 36. 49° 55' S, 63° 09' 24" W. Net: N 100 B 151-0 m. 5 specimens. 'Common form on this line of 



stations.' 

 St. 1959. 8. ii. 37. Scotia Bay Landing, South Orkney Islands. Shore coll., o m. i specimen. 

 St. WS 73. 6. iii. 27. 51° 01' S, 58° 54' W. Net: N7-T 121-130 m. 70 specimens and numerous fragments. 

 St. WS 207. 28. iv. 28. 54° 12' S, 58° 40' W. Net: N 100 B 75-0 m. 3 specimens. 

 St. WS865. 29. iii. 32. 50° 03' S, 64° 14' W. Net: NR i26(-o)m. 5 specimens. 



With the exception of St. 1959 all these localities are in the surroundings of the Falkland Islands. 



Some of the specimens are very large, but most of them are in a fragmentary condition. The speci- 

 mens collected in November (Stns 1895-7) are 34-60 mm. in diameter; the numerous specimens 

 from St. WS 73, 6 March, vary between 30 and 80 mm., those collected between 29 March and 

 28 April (Stns WS 207 and WS 865) are 100-120 mm. wide. Unfortunately, the only specimens 

 collected in May (St. 60) cannot be measured. 



It is now possible to state with certainty that Staurophora falklandica Browne is identical with 

 S. mertensi. The description of S. falklandica was based on one specimen, and Browne himself 

 pointed out its strong resemblance to the North Atlantic species, from which it was distinguished 

 only by the considerable difference in size between the large and the small tentacles, which alternated 

 almost regularly. An examination of numerous specimens from the northern Atlantic enabled me to 



