SCYPHOMEDUSAE 357 



comparison with the lappets in hyacinthina {ibid., fig. 9). The lappets as figured here are 

 not pigmented with a uniform dark brown as in hyacinthina, but are darker on the sides 

 and in the middle, and more transparent on both sides of the middle rib. In the text he 

 speaks about a "hellere mehr rotbraune Farbe von regina" (p. 23). Broch (1913, p. 9) 

 could observe in fresh specimens no difference whatever in the colouring of regina and 

 hyacinthina. 



The Discovery material is very interesting in this respect (Plate XV, figs. 1,2). Most 

 large specimens of the regina type show a purple or dark brown stomach and ring sinus, 

 a dark brown, velvety covering of the subumbrella and a more or less transparent lappet 

 zone. Specimens from Sts. 114, 383, 391, 395 show in the peripheral zone a diffusely 

 reddish or rusty brown pigmentation which is much less transparent. In all specimens, 

 however, with transparent or pigmented lappet zone on each lappet a characteristic 

 pigmentation is visible. As will be seen from the photographs (Plate XV, figs, i, 2) at a 

 small distance from the border a continuous wavy line of dark brown pigment can be 

 distinguished along the whole periphery, forming all over the border a lobed band in 

 the shape of an elegant festoon. In other cases this line is interrupted at the insertion 

 of the tentacles, forming an isolated horseshoe-like pattern or design in each lappet. 

 In some other cases the horseshoe is interrupted at the top of the lappet, the pigment 

 forming two arches near the border of them. On the pedalia I have never seen such 

 stripes (see the figure by Maas) . In the middle of each lappet there is on the subumbrellar 

 side a very dark brown stripe, which runs along the septum down the middle line of 

 each lappet. In a few cases (St. 114), three specimens from 650-700 m. depth, and 

 (St. WS 361) one specimen from 750-1000 m. depth, the colour of the pedalia was 

 diffuse dark brown. 



With regard to the pigmentation of the dodecabostrycha and hyacinthina stages the 

 transparency of the lappet zone or its darker pigmentation is said by all previous authors 

 to be a good criterion for distinguishing both forms. In the present series, however, it 

 was in many cases very difficult to reach a decision. The pigmented subumbrellar 

 muscles of the lappets are often so distinctly visible through the almost transparent 

 gelatinous substance of the lappets, that the lappet zone cannot be said to be entirely 

 transparent. It is the same with the pigmentation of the stomach and the distal parts 

 of the gastro-vascular system. It was not at all easy in many cases to say whether the 

 gonads were visible from without or not, or whether they surpass the coronal furrow or 

 not. Such distinctions may be possible in fresh material such as Vanhoeifen or Broch 

 possessed, but not in the collections of the Discovery which are several years old. The 

 classification of the present series according to the pigmentation is therefore more or 

 less arbitrary and only possible in conjunction with other characters. 



The specimens from St. WS 552 b, transitional stages between dodecabostrycha and 

 hyacinthina, must be mentioned here separately on account of the strange coloration of 

 the stomach. It is not dark brown as is normal, but reddish brown with a faint tint of 

 blue. The lappet zone of both specimens is a transparent white with brown pigment on 

 the tentacle muscles only. 



