68 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



crescent-shaped organs, located upon the floor of the gastric pouches and giving the medusa a dis- 

 tinctive appearance not easily confused with any of the Scyphomedusae likely to be found within the 

 region. 



Amelia exhibits interesting aspects of variability, particularly in the radial canal system, the mar- 

 ginal lobes, rhopalia, and gonads. Browne (1901) has shown this in some detail in A. aarita. An 

 examination of several hundred specimens of adult Aurelia flavidula shows a very similar condition, a 

 ratio of variation as high as 20 to 25 per cent, and an examination of more than a thousand of the 

 ephyrse of this medusa gives a like result. Details upon this point will he given in another contribution 

 dealing specifically with this feature. 



Colors. — A rather dull-colored medusa, the umbrella being almost transparent with pale yellowish 

 pink, slightly more noticeable in the region of the gonads, which share in the same general color; 

 the tentacles are dull reddish occasionally. There is often noticeable a bluish opalescence over the 

 entire exumbrella. 



Distribution. — This is one of the commonest of the Atlantic coast medusae and ranges from 

 Maine to New York. It is most abundant during early summer along the New England coast. Its 

 life history has been described by Agassiz (Contributions Natural History United States). The breed- 

 ing season seems to extend throughout most of the spring and summer. Smith (Museum Compara- 

 tive Zoology, Vol. XXII, p. ll'i) has worked out the early embryology with much care. The 

 scyphistoma period remains somewhat uncertain. In this sta^e the larva- certainly in some cases live 

 through the winter season and become free ephyrse in early April and May, when I have taken them 

 in all stages of metamorphism. I have kept the polyps for weeks during the summer in aquaria, and 

 while they budded and stolonized freely, they showed no signs of strobilization. The text cut shows 

 one such colony, which was reared in a small dish upon my laboratory table. 



PHACELLOPHORA Brandt (1S35). 



Phacellophora ornata (Verrill). 



Cdttinema ornata Verrill, American Journal Arts and Sciences, 1869, p. 117. Annals and Magazine Natural History, Vol. IV. 



1869, p. 160. 

 /•A 'Uophora ornata Haeckel, System der Medusen, isTit. p. 643, 



Umbrella flat, and disk-shaped, rather thick and rounded aborally, the exumbrellar surface cov- 

 ered with wart-like papilke; walls transparent, and with prominent radial canals which are of two 

 sorts, one branching and anastomosing, the other simple and straight, each Hi in number. Margin 

 with hi lobes deeply incised, within the sinuses of which is located a prominent rhopalium. Tentacles 

 numerous and of varying size and length, arising from the under surface of the margin beneath the 

 circular canal. Manubrium large and pendulous and with prominent plaited oral arms. Gonads 8, in 

 prominent pouches within the gastric cavity. Specimens vary in size from 10 to 18 inches in diameter. 



Distribution. — Taken at Eastport, Me., by Verrill and later by Fewkes, from whose description 

 (Bulletin Comparative Zoology, Vol. XIII) this account is chiefly compiled. So far as known to me 

 the species has not been taken in the Woods Hole region, but, like others of similar range, its occur- 

 rence is not improbable. 



Family CYAXEID.-E. 



Rhopalia 8; tentacles very numerous and long, disposed in 8 clusters, each comprising several rows Cyanea 



CYANEA Peron & Lesueur { L809). 

 Cyanea arctica Peron & Lesueur. 



Cyanea arctica Peron & Lesueur, Tableau des Meduses, etc., 1809, p. 363. L. Agassiz, Contributions Natural History United 

 states, Vol. IV, 1862, pp. 87, 162, A. Agassiz, North American Acalephae, 1865, p, 14. Haeckel, System der 

 Medusen, 1879, p. 530 



Medusa capillata Fabricius, Fauna Groenlandica, 1780, p. 364. 



Cyanea capillata Eschscholtz, System der Medusen, 1829, p. 68. 



Cyanea postelsii Gould, Report Invertebrates of Massachusetts, 1841, p. :<)7. Stimpson, Marine Invertebrates Grand Manan, 

 1853, p. 11. 



Cyanea fulva L. Agassiz, op. « il \ Agassiz, op. cit. 



Cyanea w rsicolor L. Agassiz, op. cit. A. Agassiz, op, eit. 



