248 Records of the Indian Museum. [Voi,. IX, 



attached to one of the stones and at all times a few water beetles 

 and some Neuropterous larvae were to be seen crawling on them 

 or lurking in the meshes of the coir rope. 



At the time of my visit in April I found Medusae in fair num- 

 bers in the pool, though nothing was found on the stones. It was 

 clear that the effort to induce the hydroid to grow on the stones 

 had failed, and some other means must be employed to get at the 

 missing stage. I, therefore, tried in April 191 3, another plan 

 suggested to me by Dr. Annandale. It was to put a number of 

 Medusae in a wide-mouthed jar and to immerse it at the bottom of 

 the pool after closing its mouth by means of a piece of muslin. 

 The immersion was necessary to keep the temperature conditions 

 as nearly natural as possible Another reason was to make as little 

 difference in the character of the food of the animal as possible. 

 I used to take out the jar twice a day and observe the condition 

 of the Medusae. The first experiment was tried on the 23rd of 

 April, 1913, and the Medusae appeared to be perfectly healthy for 

 two days after that. On the 2^^th, however, I found that some 

 of them had died and others were not as active as they had been. 

 An examination of the contents of the jar under a microscope 

 failed to reveal any eggs. That the death was not natural but 

 due to pathological changes set up by the peculiar environment, 

 which prevented their coming to the surface of the water periodi- 

 cally and also circumscribed their movements to a small area, 

 appears to be clear from the fact that the Medusae in the jar were 

 of all sizes and ages. I tried the experiment again on the 2fith, 

 but found that the Medusae died even earlier i.e on the 27tli 

 evening. There was a heavy shower of rain on that day and I 

 thought I would do better to move to some other locality and try 

 the experiment. 



I left Medha on the 28th and reached Dhom on the Krishna 

 on the 2gth. We had heard of the occurrence of the Medusae in 

 this place last year but were not able to visit it. I found the 

 Medusae here in very great abundance. The pool in which they 

 occur is of the type found at Tambi on the Koyna. It is wide 

 and long, about 15 ft. deep, and has a muddy and gravelly bot- 

 tom. The pool is held sacred and fishing is not allowed. I was, 

 however, permitted to catch the " flowers " — as the Medusae are 

 called — and collected a large number. Among these are some very 

 small specimens almost equal in size to a large pin's head. The 

 experiment tried at Medha was also tried here but was unsuccess- 

 ful. I, however, suspect that the number of Medusae put in the 

 jar may have something to do with the success of the experiment 

 and if it were tried with only one or two Medusae in each jar we 

 may yet succeed. This, however, was not possible this year and 

 I left Dhom for Karad at the junction of the Krishna and Koyna 

 on the ist of May. 



At Karad I found that I was a little too late, the Medusae 

 having all been washed away by the rain of the 28th April. I 

 searched the river in a boat which was available, but could not see 



