PRAYINAE. 199 



here and among the Diphyopsiinae. So striking a paralleHsm between the two 

 subfamiUes surely deserves more than specific recognition. It may well be that 

 more detailed study of Rosacea will reveal other important differences. Thus 

 in Praya the nectophores are similar in form; but in the only species of Rosacea 

 of which we can speak with confidence, i. e. R. plicaia, they differ from each other 

 in form and in the extent of the hydroecium. Furthermore, it is not unlikely 

 that the succession of nectophores may differ in the two species, for while new 

 ones seem to be formed continuously, or at least frequently in cynibiformis, 

 with the concomitant dropping of the oldest, as described and figured in detail 

 by Chun ('97a), such a process seems never to have been observed in R. plicata. 



Quoy and Gaimard's Diphyes dubia has never been recorded since first 

 described. Schneider ('98) has identified it with the Stephanophyes superba 

 of Chun ('88, '91), but an excellent specimen of dubia in the present collection 

 (p. 204) agreeing in all its essentials with Quoy and Gaimard's figures, proves 

 to be so different not only from Stephanophyes, but also from all known Prayinae 

 in the arrangement and number of the subumbral canals, as to warrant a new 

 generic name, Nectrodroma. For the present it is retained in this subfamily, 

 but when we know the number and arrangement of its definitive nectophores 

 it may be necessary to locate it elsewhere. 



Finally, Haeckel's ('88b) genera Desmalia and Desmophyes are undoubtedly 

 Prayids, the former without, the latter with special nectophores in the groups 

 of appendages. But instead of only two chief nectophores, Desmalia has four, 

 Desmophyes six, i. e. three pairs. Schneider ('98, p. 82) has identified Des- 

 mophyes with R. viedusa (= "diphyes" Graeffe). But though it is true that 

 there is a succession of nectophores in that species (Chun, '88), it is equally 

 certain that the normal number of well-developed bells retained at one time in 

 that genus, and in Praya, is two only. Should further study prove that the 

 number of definitive nectophores retained simultaneously in Haeckel's species 

 is six, as in his single example, it would deserve generic separation. I therefore 

 retain Desmophyes and Desmalia, at least provisionally. The former was 

 described, and beautifully figured — but we know the latter only from an in- 

 sufficient notice. 



