200 PRAYA CYMBIFORMIS. 



PRAYA Blainville, 1834. 



Praya cymbiformis (Delle Chiaje) Leuckart. 

 Plate 2, figs. 1-6. 



Physalia cymbiformis Delle Chiaje, '42, tab. 33, fig. 1. 



Praya dubia Blainville, '34, p. 137, pi. 6, fig. 4 (non Diphyes dubia Quoy and Gaimard, '34). 



Diphyes prayensis Quot and Gaimard, '34, p. 106, pi. 3, fig. 37, 38. 



Praya diphyes Lesson, '43, p. 144 (non Kolliker, '53). 



Praya cymbiformis Leuckart, '53, p. 2, taf. 1, fig. 4; '54, p. 286, pi. 11, fig. 18-24; Hcxley, '59, p. 30; 



Keferstein and Ehlers, '61, p. 20, pi. 1, fig. 28; Haeckel, '88b, p. 146; Chun, '97b, p. 66, 



fig. 8; '97b, p. 102. 

 Praya maxima Gegenbaur, '54a, p. 19, pi. 17, fig. 1-6; Haeckel, '88b, p. 146; Lens and Van Riemsdijk, 



:08, p. 17. 

 Praya diphyes ? Huxley, '59, p. 52, pi. 3. 

 Praya galea Haeckel, '88a, p. 35; '88b, p. 146, pi. 31, 32, 

 Eudoxella galea Haeckel, '88b, p. 108, pi. 32. 

 Praya (Huxleya) californica Gravier, '99, p. 87, fig. 1-4. 



Station 4574 surface 2 entire colonies and 1 detached 



nectophore. 

 4648 300 fathoms to surface 1 superior nectophore, 20 mm. long. 

 " 4687 " " " " 1 nectophore, with basal part of 



stem and 1 reserve nectophore. 

 4703 " " " " 1 fragmentary nectophore. 



This species is so well known, and has been so well described and figured 

 by Leuckart ('54), Gegenbaur ('54), and Haeckel ('88b) that no detailed account 

 is necessary. The identification of the material has been made more certain 

 by comparison with two excellently preserved colonies from the Naples Zoo- 

 logical Station than could otherwise have been possible, and I have not found 

 a single character, either in the chief nectophores, or in the groups of appendages, 

 to separate Pacific from Mediterranean specimens. 



As elsewhere stated (Bigelow :11b, p. 342) one of the most serviceable 

 field characteristics for distinguishing this species from Rosacea plicata which 

 it resembles closely in general aspect, is the form of the hydroecium of the 

 younger of its two chief nectophores. That this extends nearly or quite the 

 entire length of the ventral surface of the younger (Plate 2, fig. 2), just as it 

 does of the older nectophores in P. cijmbiformis, has long been known; but its 

 importance as a diagnostic character seems to have been overlooked. Com- 

 parison of the figures of the nectophores of the two species (Plate 2, fig. 1, 7) will 

 show how evident the difference is. Furthermore no specimen shows the 

 terminal dilation of the somatocyst, so characteristic of Rosacea plicata. In the 

 colony figured (Plate 2, fig. 1), in which the chief nectophores were about 11 and 



