jQ MEDUSA. I. 



years about 1840. On his journeys he made considerable zoological collections, particularly of molluscs, 

 and put down his observations in his journals. While looking through these old papers I succeeded in 

 finding the ^'Oceania cardinalis'^ mentioned in a journal from 1843; among some other notes from June 

 13th is the following: "June 13th, off Napparsok. Last night the weather was completely calm, and 

 with the hand-net several things were fished to me at a distance from the land of about 40 miles, to 

 wit: a remarkably pretty small Acaleph, which I have not seen before, and which I have drawn and 



described this afternoon (provisionally I will call it Occajiia cardinalis) ..."' 



0C€U')ltCt 



,• ;■ Now was the question: where are that drawing and description? With the 



13. Juui. Sukkertopp. exception of the date and the locality, the marks on the label could give me 



Sp. r. Journ. 76. ^^ information. At first I could not even understand the significance of these 



III ficr. A. 



"^ marks, until I found, that they ar& partly due to erroneous copying: "Sp. F 



Journal" ought to be "Sp. S. Journal", i. e. "Spanske So Journal" (M oiler 

 calls the Atlantic with the name of Spanske S0 (Spanish Sea), and one of his journals bears that title); 

 and "76" is a mistake for "Tb", i. e. "Tabula". And when I found "Spanske So Journal Tab. Ill, fig. A" 

 I saw a drawing of some crustacean. It is evident, however, from the journal of 1843 that a descrip- 

 tion and drawing must have been made, but in spite of keen searching I have not found them. It is 

 probable, however, that they have disappeared very soon, because the species is not included in 

 Morch's list of the Acalephs of Greenland, 1857. The species mentioned in that list have been derived 

 "partly from descriptions in Fabric! i Fauna Groenlandica, partly from various posthumous drawings 

 of H. P. C. M oiler" (loc. cit. p. 98). 



This find is of considerable interest, because it is the only time the species has been found at 

 the surface and because the said locality is the northernmost place, where the species has hitherto 

 been found. Napparsok is on the west-coast of Greenland a little south of Sukkertoppen. According to 

 the quoted journal of Moller the position of the locality must be: Lat. 65° N., Long. 5^)° W. 



The description of Fewkes is based upon 7 specimens, found during the investigations of the 

 U. S. Fish Commission off the southern coast of New England in 1881, stat. 936 and 954. These sta- 

 tions are near the northern limit of the Gulf-Stream. The depth in which the specimens were 

 taken, is not seen from the available data. Fewkes's description and figure are very deficient, prob- 

 ably owing to the bad state of preservation of the specimens. The gonads are said to occupy the 

 proximal one-third of the radial canals, and Fewkes speaks about large white eggs (which evidently 

 mean the white gonadial sacks), which, according to the figure, are placed irregularly within the 

 "gonads". In every other respect the specimens, examined by me, agree so well with the description 

 and figure given by Fewkes that I have not the sHghtest doubt, but that they belong to the same 

 species. As to the systenuitical position of the medusa, Fewkes states that it is "apparently allied to 

 Stauropkora^', but that the determination of its exact position is difficult; he will, therefore, provisionally 

 call it with the name of Chroiiiatdiwiini yiibruiii^ till its position can be fixed. 



Mayer (1910) quotes the descrijilion of Fewkes and places the species within the genus 

 Thaumantias. 



■ "Den 13. Jiiiii, paa Huideu af Napparsok. Iiiat var del aldele.s .stille og der blev da nied Ketzeren tanget adskilligt 

 til iiiig i en Afstand fra Landet af en halv Snees Mile, nenilig en udniierket suiuk lille Acaleph, soui jeg ikke for har seet, og 

 som jeg i Eftcrmiddag har tegnet og beskrevet (jeg vil forelobig kalde den Oceaniu cardinalis) . . .". 



