THE SCYPHOMEDUS^E OF THE SOUTHERN 

 -HEMISPHERE. 



By R. von Lendenfeld, Ph.D. 



Part I. — Introduction. 



Animals, which, as in the generative stages of the Scyphomedusse, 

 live in the open sea, can hardly be studied in a small area. It there- 

 fore appears advantageous to extend our investigation from the 

 Australian shores over the whole of the Southern Hemisphere, and 

 we have a good right to do so from Sydney, as the centre of 

 scientific zoological research this side of the equator. Very few 

 other fields of investigation look so promising as this. 



Although hardly anything is known of the southern Medusae 

 in comparison to their better studied northern relatives, still 

 nearly as many southern species have been described. In some 

 groups there are already more southern than northern species. 

 All families are represented here, while I have discovered a new 

 family on our shores, which has no representative in the Northern 

 Hemisphere. 



In consequence of the larger area of ocean in this hemisphere the 

 Medusae are, as we might expect from the previous statements, 

 much more numerous in the southern than in the northern seas, 

 although at present there are of course not quite so many known 

 as north of the line. 



In this paper I shall give descriptions of all known Scypho- 

 medusse from this hemisphere. The description of species observed 

 before will be brief ; on those alone seen by myself I intend to dwell 

 more in detail. 



The classification of Haeckel will be adopted, and Haeckel's 

 Diagnoses translated. 



The authors will be cited, and all papers on the species 

 referred to. 



