346 ME. HENET B. BiGELOW — BISCATAN PLANKTON : 



safely be attributed to this species is that by the Plankton Expedition (Chun, 1897 b) of 

 an eudosid in the closing-net, 800-1000 metres, 60° 2' N., 22° 7' W., at a temperature of 

 42'8° F. (11'6° C.)- Romer (1902, p. 176), it is true, records anterior nectophores from 

 Spitzbergen. But since he says that these specimens had " Zahnartigen Vorspronge an 

 den untere Schirmrande," i. e. basal teeth, they cannot have belonged to J), appendiculata. 

 On the surface the polygastric state of this species is known from as far north as the 

 northern coast of Ireland. 



DiPHYES FOWLERi, sp. nov. (PI. 28. fig. 5.) 



Occurrences : Surface. 21 e. 



50 to fathoms. 36 d, 26 c. 

 75 to fathoms. 33 A. 

 100 to fathoms. 21 //, 245, 24 d, 24 e, 30 g, 

 30 /i, 32c^, 356, 35 a;, 36i, 

 86 e. 

 250 to fathoms. 36 h. 

 300 to fathoms. 36 ^. 

 The specimens all measured about 11 mm. in length. 



I have likewise been able to study 6 anterior nectophores of this species from the 

 "West Indies, and it is represented in the ' Albatross ' Eastern Pacific collection by 8. 

 Comparison of Atlantic with Pacific specimens has revealed no differences sufficient to 

 justify their separation. 



In its general form D.fowleri resembles the Diphyes suhtiloides of Lens and Van 

 Riemsdijk (1908) so closely that only a slight difference in the structure of the 

 hydrcEcium and the shape of the somatocyst distinguish it from the latter. 



Anterior Nectophore. — The diagnostic characters are as follows : there are constantly 

 five ridges at the apex, and these, which are not pi'ominent, run to the base without 

 branching. In the best-preserved specimens the general form is high and narrow, but 

 the more battered individuals are often proportionately much broader. This difference 

 is probably to be correlated with contraction or expansion of the nectosac. There are 

 no baso-lateral teeth, and the dorsal tooth is represented merely by a slight prominence 

 of the dorso-basal angle. The nectosac reaches almost to the apex, and the canals 

 follow the usual course. 



Tlie hydroecium is an important character, since it serves to distinguish D. foioleri 

 from most other diphyids. It is very short, and lies wholly below the level of tlie 

 mouth of the nectosac, and is broadly conical. Its form will be more readily understood 

 from the accompanying figure than from a verbal description. In D. suhtiloides, 

 although the hydroecium is of similar outline and position according to the figures of 

 Lens and Van Riemsdijk (1908, pi. 7), the dorsal hydroecial wall below the bell-opening 

 is entire, though slightly concave. But in D.fowleri, both from the Atlantic and from 

 the Pacific, the wall is divided as in many diphyids, the division being to one side of the 

 mid-line. In most instances the left-hand flap is the larger, but several of the 

 specimens are too much distorted to show whether or not this is invariably the case. 



