NAUSITHOE PUNCTATA. 35 



N. rubra Vanhoffen. Entire endodermal system pigmented, of red color. 

 Simple gastric cirri. 



iV. albairossi Maas. Very large (30-40 mm. in diameter). Gastric cirri 

 arranged in bundles. 



Nausithoe punctata Kolliker. 



Nausithoe punctata KoUiker, '53, p. 323 ; Haeckel, '80, p. 486 ; Claus, '83, p. 24, taf. 6-8 ; 



Vanhoffen, '92, p. 13, taf. 3, figs. 8, 9, :02*, p. 29; Maas, : 04% p. 64. 

 Nausithoe punctata var. pacifica Agassiz and Mayer, '99, p. 170 ; : 02, p. 155, pi. 7, fig. 32. 

 Nausithoe marginata Kolliker, '53, p. 323. 

 Nausithoe albida Gegeubaur, '56, p. 211. 

 Ephyropsis species Gegeubaur, '53, p. 494. 

 Nauphanta polaris Fewkes, '88^, p. 40, pi. 1, figs. 1, 2. 

 Nauphanta vettoris pisani Vanhoffen, '92, p. 15, taf. 3, fig. 10. 

 Ephyroides rotaformis Fewkes, '86, p. 949, pi. 7, figs. 1, 2. 

 ? Nauphanta challengeri Haeckel, '80, p. 487. 



Plate 12, Fig. 5. 



Station 4588 ; surface ; 12 specimens. 



Station 4696; surface; 1 specimen. 



It would seem that in the region explored by the " Albatross " this species 

 comes to maturity in late autumn and early winter, for the latest capture 

 was on December 23, and all the specimens were large and with ripe 

 gonads. In all the ring furrow and pedalia are strongly marked, a condition 

 which appears to be usual in large specimens of this species. None of the 

 specimens show any trace of the brown pigment spots on the exumbrella, 

 which are so characteristic of the Atlantic representatives of the species, 

 but inasmuch as it is doubtful whether this pigmentation is universal in 

 the case of Atlantic specimens, although it is certainly very usual, and since 

 slight color diflferences are seldom of much systematic significance among 

 Medusae, it seems best, as I have already concluded for specimens from the 

 Indian Ocean (Bigelow, : 04), to include Pacific as well as Atlantic forms 

 imder the one name, N. punctata. At the same time, however, it is important 

 to recognize that there do occur these two comparatively constant and well- 

 marked geographic races. 



The differences of outline, degree of development of ring furrow, and 

 pedalia, and the like, which have been supposed to separate Mediterranean 

 from Atlantic specimens, and to distinguish the species of Nauphanta from those 

 of Nausithoe, are, as Vanhoffen ('92, : 02^) has shown, merely evidences of 

 diflferent stages in growth, and bear no relation to geographic occurrence. 



