72 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



The small Forskalia specimens occasionally brought back in plankton-collections are invariably 

 strongly contracted. No doubt the sudden contraction in length of siphon-peduncles caused by 

 formalin has the mechanical effect of tearing the long and delicate membranous, muscular attachments 

 of the bracts. Sometimes a few distal bract-buds remain, but siphons and bracts are nearly always 

 shed. In cross-section the long, peduncular bracts of F. edwardsii are triangular, and have a distal 

 facet set on at varying angles. As a result the distal facet is of varying length, relatively short in the 

 proximal pair, relatively long and oblique at the distal end. The feature of all the bracts, which makes 

 it possible to homologize the various categories, is a shallow pocket between the distal facet and what 

 I will call the dorsal facet. By labelling the two distal teeth of the dorsal facet a and b in the figures 

 (Text-figs. 29, 30), and attaching other letters c, d and e to the distal tooth, the two median teeth of 

 the distal facet and the penultimate tooth respectively, it is hoped to make the homologies clear. 



\4.mm 



2 mm. 



Text-fig. 30. Forskalia edwardsii, Villefranche. A-E, knee-shaped bracts from pedicels of gastrozooids. F, bolster-shaped bract 

 from base of pedicel. A-C x 6, D, E x 1 1, F x 9. Homologous points on the various bracts are lettered similarly, a, b, c, d, e. 



It will be seen that in a cross-section of a stem-bract the longer transverse axis is from side to side, and 

 the ' pocket ' is very wide, whilst in the distal peduncular bract the longer transverse axis might be 

 called dorso-ventral, and the 'pocket' is very narrow. 



In January 1952 I received four bottles of plankton containing Forskalia material, taken in the Red 

 Sea by ' Discovery II ' in November 195 1. The material is in better condition than usual, and although 

 it cannot be worked up for this report it can be said that it corresponds well with specimens of 

 F. edwardsii from the Mediterranean. 



The material consisted of: 



