STEPHANOMIA. 283 



readily. The distal margin of the bract is tridentate and its upper surface 

 marked by three ridges. 



The tentilla are of the tricornuate type, and when adult the involucre 

 entirely encloses the cnidoband (Plate 18, fig. 10, c/. Fewkes, '81, pi. 9, fig. 21). 

 Apparently this is the invariable condition in fully developed tentilla. In their 

 individual development these organs pass through the same stages that they do 

 in A. okeni (p. 280). 



A. elegans was previously known from the Mediterranean, from the coast 

 of Europe as far north as Norway; the east coast of North America from the 

 West Indies to Cape Cod, perhaps even to the Bay of Fundy. So far as I can 

 learn, there is no previous record of its occurrence in the Pacific, but it has been 

 recorded from Malayan waters (Amboina, Bedot, '96). 



STEPHANOMIA P^ron and Lesueur, 1807. 



According to Schneider ('98) the various forms described up to that time 

 which fall in Sephanomia as here defined, all belong to one or other of three 

 species. E.ssentially this same conclusion was previously reached by Bedot 

 ('96), but though he suggested the identity of Nanomia cara A. Agassiz ('65) 

 and of Anthemodes canariensis Haeckel ('69b) with the well-known S. (Cupu- 

 lita) pida Metschnikoff, he maintained them temporarily as distinct. These 

 three are united by Schneider ('98) under the specific name bijuga Delle Chiaje. 

 The identification of Delle Chiaje's form with the well-known "pida" is justified, 

 because his figure ('42, pi. 181) of the young tentilla shows both the coiled 

 cnidoband with a single terminal filament, and the basal swelling fated to grow 

 into the involucre (c/. Claus, 78, taf. 1, fig. 6c). Adoption of this view will 

 establish the nomenclature of the Agalmidae on a firmer basis than heretofore, 

 because it will leave Sars's ('46) Agalma in undisputed possession of the name 

 elegans (p. 276). Bedot ('96) does not include Delle Chiaje's name in his 

 synonymy. 



On the other hand, both Chun ('97b), Romer (:02), and Vanhoffen (:06) 

 retain the name cara, for the northern form, as distinguished from the southern 

 bijuga (= pida). There is some evidence in favor of this course, although the 

 two are close allies. Thus, cara grows to an enormous size (four feet long when 

 expanded, three feet when contracted according to Fewkes, '88a), whereas 

 bijuga is a rather small form. Then, the bracts are apparently more obtuse in 

 the former than in the latter, the tentilla of the primary tentacles of the two 



