39 



vided into two, and the endoderrnal wall of the pouch has 

 crown in as a solid partition between the two new pouches. 

 'L'he aboral portion of the body is seen to be considerably 

 longer than is usually the case. 



IX. TRANSFOraiATION OF THE POLYP . - 



Up to the present time all efforts to secure 

 specimens of the larval Gonionema in their natural habitat 

 have been well-nigh fruitless. Although the eggs are laid 

 in enormous numbers during four to six weeks of the summer, 

 and even when kept in the laboratory a large proportion de- 

 velop , it has yet been impossible to find the polyps in 

 the eel-pond where the medusae are so plentiful. Many 

 speculations have been hazarded as to the condition in 

 which the lai'vae pass the cold months of winter, and no 

 small energy and time have been expended in attempting to 

 get at the secret. And yet I am much more ready to believ( 

 that the difficulty has been with our methods of search 

 than that any extraordinary transformation in form or 

 change in habitat should render the success of such search 

 impossible. This seems the more likely from the fact that 

 during the season when the medusae are laying their eggs 



