392 AMALTH^A. 



Habitat.— {^). 



Bathymetrical distrihution. — (?) . 



Locality. — Coast of Noitliumbeilanc], ]\Ir. Alder. 



The remarkable little hydroid to which Alder assigns the name Corymorplia nana, is by far 

 the smallest of the species which have been referred by authors to the genus Corymorpha. It 

 was obtained from the refuse of the fishing boats on the Northuinljerland coast, but we know 

 nothing of its habitat or of its bathymetrical distribution. 



AMALTHJIA, Oscar Schmidt. 



Name. — Amallkeia — a mythological name : the goat that suckled Jupiter. 



TROPHOSOME. — Hydkocatjlus emitting tubular processes near its proximal 

 end ; PERisAuc rudimental. Htdranth abruptly distinct from the hydrocaulus ; the 

 proximal tentacles larger than the distal, and disposed in a single verticil near the 

 base of the hydranth, the distal tentacles scattered (or else multiverticillate ?). 



GONOSOME. — Plange'Ists borne upon peduncles whicli spring from the body of 

 the hydranth between the proximal and distal sets of tentacles, having a deep bell- 

 shaped umbrella, and four equal marginal tentacles with bulbous bases. 



The genus Amalth(ea is closely allied to Corymorpha. It was instituted by Oscar Schmidt 

 for a hydroid which he names Amalthaa uvifera, and which was obtained off the Island of Loppen, 

 in Finland. 



From Corymorpha it is distinguished by the form of its gonophore, the umbrella of whicli is 

 provided with four equal marginal tentacles instead of the solitary tentacle of Corymorpha, a 

 character which is certainly of generic imporance, though Sars, not recognising it as such, places 

 Schmidt's hydroid in the genus Corymorpha. 



Admitting the generic value of this character, two other species placed by Sars in Corymorpha 

 must be removed to the genus Amallhaa, which will thus include three species, all distinguished 

 from Corymorpha by the possession of four equal marginal tentacles in the medusa. These are 

 the original Amalthcea uvifera of Schmidt, the Amalthma Sarsii, and the Antalthcea Januarii. 



