35 



and bell and the ej^gs eccare into the acvity of the- urbrella. 



The rrocess of epp laying is very nimilar to that described 



for Sto^^.otpca. 



The number of egfs denosited by a single feT^ale medusa 



varies considerably. Jt is usually betweer twerty ar^ i thirty 



five, Cn c-^e occasion an excenticnally large feiiale was tal:en 



in the tow; her ovaries were seen to be cro-.^ded with eg?:s. 



She v/as nut into a ser^arate dish of sea v/ater for the purpose 



of counting the nu;rber of eggs thrt she v;ould lay. The 



next morninp; at ^he hour the eggs were deposited; and the nu^- 

 /\ 



ber was found to be fifty-six, v/hich is/unusually large, 

 I made ^ any other counts but this was the only ti'-ie that 

 the number exceeded fifty, As a rule it is fro- tv/enty to 

 thirty-five, only rarely is it as high as fifty, fhese num- 

 bers seen reriarkably small when we consider the enormous 

 cuantit^f of eggs that are laid by many of the other ani- 

 mals of the ocean^ the number often reaching many millions, 

 as among so-^e of the Echirodermata and ;.iollusca. 



It is a rather curious fact that these animals are 



