300 BULLETIN 100, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The records of pigment in the tentacular bulbs for Indo-Pacific 

 specimens are as follows: Agassiz and Mayer do not mention any; 

 none was to be seen in the Maldive specimens (Bigelow, 1904). On 

 the other hand the Siboga series, and both the Philippine representa- 

 tives of the species have definite pigment spots. But in the latter, 

 though they occur on most of the knobs, there are several knobs in 

 each specimen which lack them. 



Cirri. — The irregularity of occurrence of the cirri has been noted 

 above. I may point out, however, that there is some evidence that 

 the tentacles in levuka, as in mira, lose their flanking cirri with ad- 

 vancing age. Thus in the youngest known specimens (Bigelow, 

 1909a) there were 3 to 5 pairs of cirri flanking each of the tentacles, 

 whereas Mass found none in connection with the tentacles of nearly 

 mature specimens. Furthermore, in one of the present specimens one 

 of the interradial — that is, youngest — tentacles is flanked by cirri, 

 though none of the radial tentacles have any. 



Gonads. — We have here an excellent example of how much the 

 development of the gonads may vary relative to that of the marginal 

 organs, for the specimen with the most tentacles has the smallest 

 gonads. In this case the subumbral gonads are restricted to the outer 

 half of the canals, the peduncular ones to the extreme distal end of 

 the peduncle. In the other specimen the subumbral swellings reach 

 from the base of the peduncle almost to the circular canal, and the 

 peduncular ones occupy fully two-thirds of the length of that organ. 

 It would require only slightly more growth for the gonads to become 

 continuous from one end of the canals to the other. The condition 

 of the gonads in the earlier described Indo-Pacific specimens is as 

 follows: in the Maldive specimens ("lactea" Bigelow, 1904), they 

 were limited to the peduncle, occupying about two-thirds of its 

 length. On the other hand, Agassiz and Mayer (1899) describe 

 them as limited to the subumbrella in their specimens from Fiji. But 

 Maas has recorded specimens with distal subumbrellar gonads, and 

 others, otherwise indistinguishable, in which there are sexual swell- 

 ings on both subumbrella and peduncle. And, similarly, the two 

 Philippine specimens show two distinct sexual masses on each radial 

 canal. Great variation is found in the location of the gonads in 

 E. mira also. 



The evidence here outlined shows that the gonads develop inde- 

 pendently in two locations; either the peduncular (Bigelow 1909<?) 

 or the subumbrellar (Maas, 1905) may appear first; or either one may 

 be lacking, and peduncular or subumbrellar ripen alone. And this 

 same thing has long been known to be true of mira, in which both 

 subumbrellar, or peduncular gonads, or both, may be developed 

 (Brooks, 1886). No one of these conditions is restricted to a given 

 geographic locality, so far as we know. 



