NOTES ON A BEROID OF PORT JACKSON, 



NOTES ON A BEROID OF PORT JACKSON. 

 By Dr. R. v. Lendenfeld, Ph.D. 



On March the 18th, 1827, a BeroiJ was captured by the ''Coquille" 

 in Pert Jackson, which Lesson (9, p. 103) describes in the following 

 manner : — le nouveau genre de zoophyte a oils, est remarq liable par 

 son corps aminci sur ses deux faces en coin, obcorde au pole 

 superieux, et largement ouvert au pole natateur. L'axe cavitaire 

 est allonge, etroit, borde sur ses deux faces de cils unis en haut et 

 libres en has, et de deux rougees sur tons les boids, soit des poles 

 soit des cotes. 



This description is accompanied by a very fair illustration 

 (9, pi. XVI., fig. 2), which enabled me to identify an animal found 

 by myself with Neis cordigera, Lesson, without difficulty. 



I consider myself justified in redescribing this Ctenophore, 

 because Chun (3, p. 306) very correctly remarks that the Beroids 

 not examined by himself have hitherto not been adequately 

 described ; and the more so as the histological examination of it 

 has furnished results vvhich are of some interest. 



Whilst L. Agassiz (1, p. 89) considers Lessons Genus Neis, as a 

 representative of a separate Sub-family, Chun (3, p 307), thinks 

 that Neis is identical with Beroe. 



I will pass over the question of the propriety of making a special 

 Sub-family for Neis as unripe for discussion, but wish to remark 

 that I cannot coincide with Chun's plan of placing all the Beroids 

 in one Genus, viz : — Beroe. The good plate of Neis in the Atlas 

 of the Goquille Zoologie (9, pi. XVL), should have, T think, 

 convinced him that Neis is no Beroe. Here in the colonies I 

 have often had the opportunity of observing lower marine animals 

 which have been desci-ibed by former authors, and I should like to 

 state that in general these descriptions are by no means so bad or 

 insufficient as modern zoologists seem to think. 



