40 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



Size of the preserved specimens according to the seasons : 



Month Oct. Feb. April May June 



Diam. (mm.) 6-42 22-52 7-40 4-21 5-20 



Distribution. Widely distributed in the warm parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans from East 

 Africa to America. Vanhoffen (191 1) united several different species under the name Mesonema coelum 

 pensile ; the specimens recorded by him from near the coasts of South Africa, in the Benguela Current 

 as well as in the Agulhas Current, probably belong to Aequorea macrodactyla, as far as can be seen 

 from the accompanying measurements. At least, VanhofFen's fig. 21 evidently represents a portion 

 of the umbrella-margin of this species. It is likewise probable that the records from Port Natal and 

 west of Ascension Island (Vanhoffen 1912a) apply to the same species. Moreover, A. macrodactyla 

 is recorded from Walvis Bay on the West African coast by Thiel (19386). It may also be met with 

 on the southern parts of the British coasts (Russell 1953). The present records from the neighbour- 

 hood of South Africa are not very surprising, but it is interesting that the species was taken as far 

 north as 7° south of the equator. It has not been previously recorded from the Atlantic coast of South 

 America, where 'William Scoresby' found it between Port Deseado and the Strait of Magellan. 



Aequorea coerulescens (Brandt 1838) 



1838 Mesonema coerulescens Brandt, p. 360. PI. 5. 



1909 Aequorea coerulescens Bigelow, p. 177. PL 4, fig. 4; PI. 35, figs. 3-8. 



1938 Aequorea coerulescens Boone, p. 35. Pi. 5 and 6. 



Occurrencr: St. WS 657. 24. vi. 31. 15° 38' 18" S, 75° 53' 24" W. Off the coast of Peru. Net: N 100 B 67-0 m. 



2 specimens. 

 St. WS 828. 30. i. 32. 50° 51' S, 61° 42' W. Near the Falkland Islands. Net: N 100 B 128-0 m. i specimen. 



This species is at once conspicuous by its numerous tentacles. One of the specimens from St. WS 657 

 is 80 mm. in diameter with 82 radial canals, with between 320 and 400 tentacles and numerous small 

 bulbs ; the other specimen from the same locality is about 70 mm. wide, but it is badly preserved, and 

 canals and tentacles cannot be counted. The specimen from St. WS 828 is very large, about 145 mm. 

 in diameter; it has no radial canals and about 500 tentacles, 3-7 between adjacent radial canals. 



Distribution. Originally described from the northern Pacific by Brandt. Recorded from two 

 localities off Aguja Point in northern Peru (Bigelow 1909) and Valparaiso, Chile (Boone). Records from 

 Vancouver (Agassiz 1865, p. 108) and from Unalaska Island and San Diego (Torrey 1909, p. 28) are 

 doubtful. Also found in Mutsu Bay and near Shimoda, Japan (Uchida 19476). The present record 

 from Peru is inside the previously known area of distribution, but the find near the Falkland Islands 

 is of considerable interest. The species has once before been found in the Atlantic, viz. off Luderitz 

 Bay in South-West Africa (Ranson 1949, p. 128). 



Aequorea spp. indeterm. 

 Occurrence: Stns 87, 100, 268, 407, 709, 1374, 1573, 1575, 2053. 



Most of these are young stages, as small as 3 mm. in diameter, but there are also some fragments of 

 larger specimens. 



Zygocanna vagans Bigelow 191 2 



1912 Zygocanna vagans Bigelow, p. 255. 



1919 Zygocanna vagans Bigelow, p. 315. PI. 42, figs. 5-7; Pi. 43, fig. 6. 



1940 Zygocanna vagans Bigelow, p. 299. Fig. 14. 



1905 Aequoride ]uv . Maas, p. 44. PI. 4, figs. 22, 23. 



Occurrence: St. 405. 4. vi. 30. 33° 50' 30" S, 15° 46' E to 34° 16' S, 15° 02' E. West of Cape of Good Hope. Net: 

 TYFB 1200-0 m. I specimen. 



