Chap. II. GENERIC AND SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 85 



ing about as many species among our Aurelife, as these authors have described 

 from the coasts of Europe, did not a continued study of the changes they un- 

 dergo, during the whole season of their occurrence in our bay, furnish satisfac- 

 tory evidence that there exists but one species of AureUa along the coast of the 

 northern United States, which is also found along the coast of the British Prov- 

 inces, beyond Newfoundland as far as Labrador, and, probably, also on the coast 

 of Greenland. Under these circumstances, I cannot believe that the many spe- 

 cies described by Peron and LeSueur, Eschscholtz and lesson, are any thing more 

 than the various stages of growth and different states of preservation of one, and 

 perhaps two, species. I say perhaps two species, because on comparing the elegant 

 figure of Aurelia aurita, published by Milne-Edwards in his " Voyage en Sicile," 

 I perceive, between it and the figures published by Ehrenberg of the Aurelia 

 aurita of the German Ocean, differences similar to those pointed out above, be- 

 tween our species and that of northern Europe. This inference is sustained by 

 the circumstance that, as a fiiuna, the animals of the Mediterranean difi'er spe- 

 cifically from those of the Celtic zoological province. Upon this basis I consider 

 Aurelia suriray, campanula, rosea, menalospila, and lineolata of Peron and LeSueur, 

 and Medusa cruciata of Linnajus and Baster, as well as Aurelia aurita and radio- 

 lata of Lamark, and Medusa purpurata of Modeer (Medusa purpurea of Pennant), 

 as synonymous with the Aurelia aurita described by Ehrenberg ; while Medusa 

 aurita of Forskill, Medusa crucigera of Eschscholtz, Aurelia crucigera of Lamai'k, 

 Aurelia rufescens of Peron and LeSueur, Medusa cacuminata of Modeer, Medusa 

 stelligera of Hemprich and Ehrenberg, Ocyrcie persea of de Blainville (Medusa 

 persea of Forskal), Evagora tetrachira of Peron and LeSueur, Orythia tetrachira 

 of Lamark, ai'e synonymous with the Aurelia aurita of the Mediterranean, described 

 and figured by Milne-Edwai-ds, as are also the Aurelia purpurea of Peron and 

 LeSueur (Medusa aurita of Kalm), Aurelia Reynaudii of Brandt (Biblis Reynaudii 

 of Lesson), and Aurelia globularis of Cliamisso and Eysenhardt, if the Bay of 

 Biscay and the Azores also belong to the Lusitanic acalephian fauna. I am the 

 more inclined to believe that the southern European species of Aurelia differs from 

 that of the coast of England and northern Europe, since I have observed along 

 the southern coast of the United States an Aurelia, which appears to me to differ 

 specifically from that found along the coast of the northern States. 



The species of Aurelia described by travelling naturalists, which seem to differ 

 from, those observed along the coast of Europe and the Atlantic side of North 

 America are: the Aurelia labiata of Chamisso and Eysenhardt (Ocyrcie labiata 

 de Bl), observed on the coast of California, of which Aurelia limbata Br. and 

 Aurelia hyalina Br. may be the representatives on the coast of Kamtschatka and 

 the Aleutian Islands; the Aurelia clausa of Lesson (Claustra pissiniboque Less.) from 



