190 



BULLETIN 100, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Genus CHIROPSALMUS L. Agassiz, 1862. 



Chiropsahnus L. Agassiz, 1862, Contr. Nat. Hist. U. S., vol. 4, p. 174. — 

 Mayeb, 1910, Medusae of the World, vol. 3, p. 515. 



Generic characters. — Carybdeidae with four interradial, branch- 

 ing pedalia which give rise to a number of tentacles. Four wide per- 

 radially situated stomach pockets in the subumbrella, each of which 



gives rise to finger-shaped, 

 unbranched, hernialike 

 pouches, which project 

 into the bell cavity. Wide, 

 marginal pouches and nu- 

 merous canals in the ve- 

 larium. Eight leaf-shaped 

 gonads. 



CHIROPSALMUS QUADRIGATUS 

 Haeckel. 



Chiropsahnus quadrigatus 

 Haeckel, 18S0, Syst. der 

 Medusen, p. 447. — Mayeb, 

 1910, Medusae of the 

 World, vol. 3, p. 516, fig. 

 331.— Light, 1914, Philip- 

 pine Journ. Science, vol. 

 9, p. 197. 



The 44 specimens of this 

 medusa were collected by 

 the Albatross from the 

 Philippines, but not one 

 seems to be mature. 



Light (1914) found this 

 medusa at Culion Bay, Cu- 

 lion, and at Palawan, and 

 thus it ranges widely in the Philippines. Light's specimens were larger 

 than those found by the Albatross, being at least 200 mm. in diameter 

 and usually with seven tentacles to each padalium. The tentacles 

 are 1.5 meters or more in length and have lavander-colored bands of 

 nematocysts. Light reports that the sting of this medusa is very 

 severe and may even be fatal to man. The Dactylometra of the 

 Philippines is also a dangerous form, but Lobonema, which some of 

 the members of the Albatross expedition believed to be virulent, is 

 not capable of inflicting a very severe sting. 1 



"IG. 4. CHIROPSALMUS QUADRIGATUS FROM THR 



Philippine Islands. A, B, Views of sense- 

 club. O, View looking down on the cruci- 

 form mouth. D, Gastric cirri. E, Branched 



PEDALIUM WITH SEVERED TENTACLES. 



1 Light, 1914, Philippine Journal of Science, vol. 9, pp. 291-295. 



