114 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
perfectly natural. Collectors should keep in mind the fact that 
the stems and branches of antipatharians are always beset with 
minute thorny spines that can easily be seen with an ordinary 
hand lens. This character is seldom found in hydroids, and 
can be relied upon as a means of distinguishing between the 
two. 
Hydromeduse.—The pelagic fauna of this region seems very 
scant indeed, and not a single Hydromedusa was secured, nor 
did we find any of the Seyphomeduse. On account of the rough 
water, we did no tow-net work, which may account in part for 
the apparent absence of jelly-fish. 
Siphonophora.—This order is represented by the familiar 
‘‘Portuguese man-of-war,’’ and we were severely stung by the 
really formidable nematocysts from the innumerable batteries 
strung along the tentacles which hang beneath these beautiful 
but troublesome creatures. 
Hydroids.—While a number of species were secured, they are 
by no means so numerous as in the waters around the western 
end of the West Indian chain. Very few of the gymnoblastic 
species were obtained, the only one that I remember being a 
species of Pennaria, which grows to a greater size than P. 
tiarella of our Atlantic coast. There was quite a number of 
ealypteroblastic species. One from Station 3, depth 75 to 80 
fathoms, was a Lafoea, probably L. gracillama, having the gono- 
some or sexual parts in the forms of the Coppinia mass very 
beautifully shown. The whole structure is in the form of an 
ovoid mass of gonangia, intertwined with the delicate curved 
tubes so characteristic of the ‘‘Coppinia mass.’’ Another beau- 
tiful form is a Lictorella closely allied to L. halecioides of All- 
man with its graceful tubular hydrothece with slightly out- 
curved apertures and borne on a slender pedestal. This was 
found at Station 21, depth 60 fathoms. 
Several fine plumularians were secured, but none so striking 
as the handsome feather-like colonies which so delighted us dur- 
ing the Bahama expedition. A species of Aglaophenia new to 
me was taken at Station 3. It was dark brown in color and rath- 
er extensively branched. It bore a general resemblance to A. 
ramosa. In the absence of the gonosome it is not always easy 
to distinguish between Aglaophema and Lytocarpus. Another 
