CTENOPHORES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST OF NORTH AMERICA. 



By Alfred Goldsborough Mayer. 



This research was begun in 1892 at the suggestion of Prof. Alexander 

 Agassiz, while I was a student in his excellently equipped marine labora- 

 tory at Newport, Rhode Island. Until 1900 Professor Agassiz did all 

 in his power to encourage these studies, and I now publish the final 

 results in the hope that by so doing I may present them as a tribute of 

 respect and gratitude to the memory of Alexander Agassiz to whose 

 generous aid and unselfish interest so many young men have owed their 

 impetus toward research in science. 



It is a pleasure to express my appreciation of the kindness of the 

 Honorable Mr. A. W. Piccott, Minister of Marine and Fisheries of New- 

 foundland, who cordially extended toward me every personal and official 

 courtesy while I was engaged in the study of the ctenophores of the 

 Newfoundland coast in September, 19 10. 



During the past seven years at the Tortugas Laboratory of the Car- 

 negie Institution of Washington it has been my custom to go out upon 

 the ocean during periods of tropical calm, when the surface is unrippled, 

 and to dip up the Ctenophores in glass vessels and transfer them to the 

 laboratory for study. All but three of the species of Ctenophorae described 

 from American North Atlantic waters have come under my observation, 

 and descriptions of these three, Lesueuria hyboptera, Ocyropsis maculata, 

 and Tjalfiella tristoma are introduced in order to present an account of 

 all ctenophorae known from the Atlantic coast of North America. The 

 species herein described are as follows: 



Species. Geographical Range. 



Mertensia ovum Arctic to southern coast of New England. 



Pleurobrachia pileus North of Cape Cod in summer, driven south- 

 ward in winter. 



brunnea sp. nov Coast of New Jersey. 



Hormiphora plumosa Mediterranean and tropical Atlantic. 



Tinerfe lactea sp. nov Tortugas, Florida 



beehleri sp. nov Tortugas, Florida. 



Lesueuria hyboptera (problematical) . Coast of Massachusetts north of Cape Cod. 



Bolinopsis infundibulum Arctic to Cape Cod. 



vitrea Tropics, West Indies, Florida, Mediterranean. 



Mnemiopsis leidyi Vineyard Sound to South Carolina. 



mccradyi Tropics to South Carolina. 



gardeni Chesapeake Bay to northern Florida. 



Leucothea ochracea sp. nov Tortugas, Florida. 



Ocyropsis crystallina Tropical Atlantic. 



fnaculata Tropical Atlantic and Pacific. 



Eurhamphcea vexilligera Mediterranean and tropical Atlantic. 



Cestum veneris Atlantic, Pacific, and Mediterranean. 



Folia parallela Mediterranean to tropical Atlantic. 



Beroe ovata Mediterranean, tropical and temperate Pacific. 



and Atlantic. 



Beroe cucumis Arctic Ocean to Cape Cod. 



Tjalfiella tristoma West Coast of Greenland. 



1 



