CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 

 AT WOODS HOLE, MASSACHUSETTS. 



THE MEDUSA OF THE WOODS HOLE REGION. 



By CHARLES W. IIARGITT, 

 Professorof Zoology, Syracuse I 'niversity. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The present report forms one of :t series projected by the director of the 

 biological laboratory of the United States Bureau of Fisheries, the primary object 

 beiug to afford such a biological survey of the region as will bring within easy reach 

 of students and winking naturalists a synopsis of the character and distribution of 

 its fauna. 



The work which forms the basis of this paper was curried on during the 

 summers of L901 and 1902, including also a brief collecting reconnaissance during 

 the early spring of the latter year, thus enabling me to complete a record of 

 observations upon the medusoid fauna during every month of the year, with daily 

 records during most of the time. For parts of these records during late fall and 

 winter 1 am chiefly indebted to Mr. Vinal N. Edwards, which it is a pleasure hereby 

 to acknowledge. It is also a pleasure to acknowledge the cordial cooperation of the 

 Commissioner. Hon. George M. Bowers, and of Dr. II. M. Smith, director of the 

 laboratory in L901 and L902. 



Most of the drawings have been made directly from life by -the writer or under 

 his personal direction. A few of those occurring in the text have been copied from 

 various sources, due credit for these having been given in every case, so far as known. 



Since the publication of "North American Aealeplne '" by Alexander Agassiz 

 in 1865 no connected and systematic account of the medusoid fauna id' the north- 

 eastern Atlantic coast has been undertaken. Various reports dealing only inci- 

 dentally with this phase of the subject have been made from time to time by Prof. 

 A. E. Verrill, notable among these being that known as "The Invertebrate Fauna 

 of Vineyard Sound," in the Report of the United States Fish Commission for 1871; 

 and a number of papers by J. Walter Fewkes have appeared in issues of the 

 Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, describing new species and 

 incidentally giving some account of their morphology. More recent contributions 

 are several articles by Mr. A. G. Mayer, in conjunction with Mr. A. Agassiz, dealing 

 with various aspects of the subject, though not limited especially to this region — 

 indeed, only touching it in a very general way. 



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