766 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [DeC, 



Gonionema, which falls into that group, this process does take 

 place. By a form of non-sexual multiplication different from any 

 which has previously been described for any member of the hydro- 

 meduspe, an intermediate process of reproduction is introduced into 

 the life-history of Gonionema, whereby a large number of aduHs 

 are produced from a single Qgg. Asexual multiplication in the 

 larvseof Scyphomeduste has been known since 1841, when Sars saw 

 and described the formation of buds in a scyphistoma of uncertain 

 identity, but probably either an Aurelia or a Cyanea. Since that 

 time several analogous cases have been made known. The scy- 

 phistoma larvse of Cassiopea, for example, were found producing 

 eggs in large numbers by Bigelow (1900), who gives a detailed 

 account of the method of budding in a monograph on this Khizo- 

 stome. It may be further stated that in general the non -sexual 

 process of production of buds by the larvse is an important 

 method of multiplication among the Discomedusse. The buds 

 usually develop, after detachment from the parent polyp, into a 

 second generation of scyphistomas, identical in form and fate with 

 the original ones. Buds may arise on the body of the scyphistoma, 

 or upon stolons from its base, and either singly or several at a 

 time. In Cotylorhiza the buds develop so rapidly and remain 

 attached so long that large clusters accumulate about the base of 

 the scyphistoma. According to some authors, Goette for example, 

 the distal end' of the bud in Aurelia and Cyanea is destined to 

 become the oral end of the detached larva, developing mouth and 

 tentacles. Friedemann, on the other hand, says^" that in Aurelia he 

 has found the opposite condition, the mouth being invariably devel- 

 oped at the attached end of the bud. This is the common relation 

 in other forms. 



In Cunina, Avhich falls into Haeckel's order the " Narcome- 

 dusse," the ciliated tentacled larva multiplies by buds produced 

 from an aboral stolon. These buds are not detached until mouth, 

 digestive cavity and tentacles are well developed. Several are pro- 

 duced simultaneously, and ai'e attached to the parent by the oral 

 extremity. The description of this remarkable process is given 

 by Prof. W. K. Brooks in The Life-History of the Hydromedusce 

 (1886). 



1" Postembryonal Entw. von Aurelia aurita, Zeitscli. f. w. Zoologie, 

 LXXl, 2, 1903. 



