1030 DK. G. HERBERT FOWLER ON THE [Dec. 13, 



opinion which, I think, is not likely to be accepted by the next 

 monographer of the group. My own specimens agreed exactly 

 with Moebius's figure 28, pi. viii., and showed no signs of variation 

 in the direction of other species. As regards the structure of the 

 shell, I can confirm von Daday l as against previous observers in 

 the belief that the neck (Aufsatz) consists of a meshwork, but that 

 the body of the shell (Wohnfach), although appearing at first sight 

 to be also a meshwork, is really a closed chamber. My specimens 

 seem to show that the inner membrane of the " Wohnfach " is 

 continuous everywhere except at the mouth, but that the outer 

 membrane ceases at the so-called pores. 



C. THE MEDUSA. 



My friend Mr. E. T. Browne has been kind enough to look 

 over the few Medusae of my collections. Of all groups this seems 

 to suffer most in capture at sea. Near shore, or from an open 

 boat, in fairly still water, the tow-net can be handled delicately ; 

 but on board ship in open water the characteristic sense-organs 

 and delicate tentacles are broken by pressure against the tow-net, 

 whether in the rolling of the ship or in the hauling of a meso- 

 plankton net by steam-power from considerable depths. 



In 1897 I tried to lessen the damage to surface forms, both by 

 diminishing the net-mouth in proportion to the surface-area of 

 the net, and by attaching the net-warp to a single-strap 

 ' accumulator ' of india-rubber ; these certainly diminished, but 

 did not avoid, damage. Only in a few cases was Mr. Browne able 

 to assign a specific name ; his list is as follows : 



1. Lizzia blondina Forbes. 5. Solmaris (possibly) two spp. 



2. Pkialidium sp. 6. Solmundella sp. 



3. Sarsia sp. 7. Aglantha roxea Forbes. 



4. Sarsia gemmipara Forbes. 8. Aglantha digitalis Haeckel. 



9. Trachynema sp. 



Of these the first five are probably purely epiplanktonic. Lizzia 

 blondina was often present in such numbers as to tinge the 

 contents of the tow-net. 



Phialidium sp. (14) and Sarsia spp. (several hauls) presented no 

 special features. 



Solmaris sp. is almost certainly confined to the Epiplanktou. 

 A single specimen occurred in 20 e (400-300 fathoms) ; but as it 

 occurred in 53 % f Epiplankton hauls, often in great profusion, 

 and only a single specimen in one Mesoplankton haul, the 

 presumption is that the latter specimen was dead and sinking 

 to the bottom 2 . 



As to Solmundella, my captures do not afford any evidence of 

 its vertical distribution. 



1 E. von Daday : Mittheil. zool. Station in Neapel, vii. p. 486. 



2 Compare Proc. Zool. Soc. 1898, p. 579. 



