46 EDWAKD T. BROWNE. 



length of the whole umbrella is not less than 200 mm. The pedalia have lost their 

 external form and have become flattened. The tentacular pedalia are a little over 

 40 mm. in length and 25 to 30 mm. in width. The rhopaliar pedalia are at least 

 60 mm. in length and 20 to 25 mm. in width. Nearly all the tentacles are present, 

 and one measures 300 mm. in length. The tentacular lobes are a little over 55 mm. 

 in length and 30 mm. in width. The gonads are large, about 80 mm. in length and 

 20 mm. in width, and show ova in different stages of development. 



The other two specimens in the ' Southern Cross ' collection are densely stained 

 with iron rust, broken and much flattened out. They are of about the same size as 

 specimen C, and have well-developed ovaries. 



' DISCOVERY ' COLLECTION. 



The ' Discovery ' specimen was preserved in chromic-formol solution, and is of a 

 greenish colour, which is due to the chromic acid. It is very much broken and 

 damaged. 



From the appearance of the above specimens it seems to me that a large 

 Periphylla requires not only careful preservation, but very careful packing. A 

 specimen should be well soaked in several changes of formalin or alcohol, and then 

 placed in a jar or can larger than the specimen, but not along with starfish, glass 

 tubes, or the like. 



The sketch of Periphylla made by Dr. Wilson, who is an accurate and skilled 

 artist, is of considerable value. It is a life-size sketch of a living specimen. As such 

 accurate sketches are very rare, I have given a photographic reproduction of it (Plate 

 VII., fig. 1), and only regret that it was necessary to reduce the size. 



The sketch shows that the specimen was nearly 200 mm. in height and about 

 300 mm. wide across the lobes. The central disc measures in height from the coronal 

 furrow to the top of the umbrella about 100 mm., and its width is about 160 mm. The 

 tentacular pedalia are about 40 mm. in length and 30 mm. in width, and the rhopaliar 

 pedalia about 50 mm. in length and 20 mm. in width. (These measurements agree 

 with those made upon the specimen, except that the rhopaliar pedalia are a little 

 longer, nearly 60 mm.) Mr. Hodgson informs me that the Medusa when alive was of 

 a reddish (?) brown colour, by no means intense, except round the lower portion of the 

 umbrella, where the colour was very dark. 



I have in my collection a well-preserved specimen of Periphylla hyacinthina from 

 the North Atlantic. In this specimen two of the rhopaliar pedalia show a transverse 

 groove, and the other rhopaliar pedalia do not. The groove is in about the same 

 position as that figured by Prof. Haeckel for P. mimbilis. The absence of a groove on 

 two of the rhopaliar pedalia points strongly to the groove being a crease formed by 

 the bending back of the margin of the umbrella either whilst the Medusa was in the 

 net, or on deck, or in the handling of the specimen. 



