MEDUSA OF THE WORLD. 



Urashimea globosa Kishinouye. 



Uraskimca globosa, Kishinouyc, 1910, Journal College of Sci., Tokyo, vol. 27, art. 9, p. i-j, plate 5, figs. 27-29. 

 Young medusa, Urashimea macrotenlaculata. Ibid., p. 28, fig. 30. 



Bell 17 mm. high, 15 mm. wide, globular with very thick walls. Numerous meridional 

 bands of nematocysts arranged more or less definiteh' m 4 perradial groups. There are 4 

 interradial, hollow spaces between the exumbrella and the subumbrella, and these have many 

 pointed processes on the aboral side. Unfortunately Kishinouye 's description is lacking in 

 detail and his figures onl\- add to my confusion respecting the nature of these spaces. Are 

 they entirely cut off from the gastrovascular system .' "The radial-canals have many minute 

 processes on the aboral side." 



There are 4 tapering tentacles longer than bell-height and with numerous, short, capped 

 filaments on all sides. Each tentacle with an abaxial ocellus at its base. Mouth with 4 tri- 

 angular lips. The gonads are 4 pouches hanging down from the horizontal parts of the radial- 

 canals near the stomach. Each gland is broadest at its "axial extremit\" and exhibits two 

 longitudinal folds. Found at Saghalin and at Monbetsu in Kitami, Hokkaido. 



This remarkable medusa is so briefly described and figured that I can not venture to 

 define its generic characters. Kishinouye states that it is one of the Ciadonemidte. From 

 Japan and Saghalin Island. 



Urashimea macrotentaculata is apparen'.l\- a young specimen of the same medusa from 

 Kuno in Suruga Bay, Japan. 



Turritopsis pacifica Maas. 



Turritopsis nutricola var. pacifca, Maas, 1909, Abhandl. .Akad. Wissen, Miinchen, Suppl. Bd. i, .Abhandl. 8, p. 14, taf. i, fign. 

 6-8; taf. 2, fig. 9. 



Bell of adult medusa 8 10 9 mm. high, 5 to 6 mm. wide. This form is distinguished by 

 the number and arrangement of its tentacles, 120 to 150 of which arise, not in a single row, 

 as in the Atlantic 'Turritopsis, but in 3 or even 4 rows, one above the other; the number of 

 rows increases wi h age. The tentacles are tapering, their entoderm chordate, and each has 

 a small, projecting ocellus on the abaxial side of its swollen bulb, whereas the ocelli of the 

 .Atlantic Turritopsis nutricula are on the axial (inner) sides of the tentacles. There are 4 

 difl'"use interradial gonads. The manubrium and radial-canals are as in T. nutricula. Gonads 

 and stomach orange, ocelli red, entoderm of tentacles greenish. Ten specimens, from Sagami 

 Bay near Misaki, [apan, in Ociober. 



This form differs so markedly from the American medusa that we may safel)- call it a 

 distinct species. 



Rathkea octopunctata (see pages 175, 177, Vol. I). 



Cytais octopunctata, Markow, n)o8. Ziiol. Anzeigcr, Bd. 33, p. 664. 



Markow finds that this medusa is very abundant near Sebastopol between Februaiy and 

 April, from the surface to a depth of not more than 7 feet. Budding medusae were abundant 

 from January 27 to Februar\- 12 in v^'ater of 6.1° to 6.9° C. The rediscovery of this medusa 

 in such abundance in the Black Sea makes it practically certain that it was described by 

 Brandt, 1838, under the name Rathkea bhtmctibaehii, and that this name is merely a s\non\ ni 

 of Rathkea octopunctata, which is the t\pe of the genus. Brandt's figure shows pinnately- 

 branched oral tentacles, but this is evidentl)- a mistake. 



Rathkea octopunctata var. grata (see page 179, Vol. I). 

 Llaia shimiko, KiSHmoi;T[, 1910, Journal College of Sci., Tokyo, vol. 27, art. 9, p. 25, plate 5, fig. 24. 



1 believe this to be identical with the Arctic variety of ^. octopunctata, commonl\- called 

 R. grata. Kishinou\e found it to be quite common in winter at Misaki, Hamana Inlet, and 

 in Omura Ba\', Japan. He sajs that the bell is 2 mm. wide and that the 8 basal Inilbs are 

 red and each gives rise to 3 or 4 tentacles. The manubrium and medusa-buds are pinkish. 

 Kishinouye's description and figure might equally well have been derived from a study of 

 R. octopunctata var. grata, from our Massachusetts coast, the Japanese and American medusa 

 apparently being identical in all respects. 



The medusa is so abundant in Japan that it has received the vulgar name "shimiko." 



