34° 



DISCOVERY REPORTS 



Steche's account. In explanation of his figs. 6 and 7 (reproduced as Text-fig. 20 here) the reader is not 

 told whether the specimens were right- or left-handed, nor whether the viewpoint was from below or 

 from inside the float (above). But by comparing Steche's figures with my diagrams (Text-fig. 21) — 

 I dislike this form of representation but am obliged to use it for this purpose — it will be seen that 

 Steche must have been representing left-handed forms from below. In my view, Steche lost his sense 

 of orientation (a very easy thing to do when examining parts of Physalia under a lens), for he appears 

 to have misrepresented the direction of the line of budding of the successive lateral groups of the 



fig.6 



fia.7 



Text-fig. 20. Physalia physalis. Steche's (19 10) schematic representation of the pattern of budding. Fig. 6 shows lateral 

 groups (Gruppen, 2. Ordnung). Fig. 7 shows branches from laterals (Reihen, 3. Ordnung). Aboral end above. = ten- 

 tacle, O = gastrozooid, % = gonodendron, x = lost appendage scar. 



cormidium. As already stated, these bud from the base of the first or main group in any one cormi- 

 dium, and subsequently from each other. Steche showed the line as extending first of all almost at 

 right-angles to the main axis of the float, and then as curling round in the oral direction. Thus he 

 represented the last lateral group of cormidium III for example as approaching the chief tentacle of 

 cormidium IV, whereas in fact I find that it lies next to the chief tentacle of cormidium II. The bud- 

 ding line also does not run in the early part of its course as far down towards the lower part of the 

 float as Steche showed it. Okada (1932) too has commented on this error of Steche's. Okada also 

 correctly described the line of ' insertion ' of the lateral groups as extending first obliquely downwards, 

 and then upwards. These terms apply when looking down on to the animal as it floats on the water 

 (Text-fig. 21). 



Steche's elaborate diagrams of a two-dimensional arrangement of the cormidia do not in my view 



