No.9.—Medusae from the Maldive Islands. By Henry B. BIGELow. 
THE Medusae described in the following pages were taken during 
the exploring trip of the steamer ‘‘ Amra” to the Maldive islands, carried 
out by Mr. Alexander Agassiz during the months of December, 1901, 
and January, 1902. I accompanied the expedition as assistant to Mr. 
Agassiz, and during the cruise the capture and preservation of the 
Medusae fell to my special care. The original drawings for the figures 
accompanying this article were made on the spot, from life. 
I wish to express my gratitude to Mr. Agassiz for his kindness in 
giving me the opportunity to visit the islands; and also for his as- 
sistance in the preparation of the manuscript and illustrations for this 
paper. 
The Maldive islands, which comprise thirteen main atolls and several 
smaller ones, occupy the greater part of a submarine plateau the area of 
which is about thirty-five thousand square miles. The islands them- 
selves extend from 8° north to 1° south*latitude; and the long axis 
of the group nearly coincides with the 73d meridian of east longitude. 
The peculiarly open condition of the larger atolls, especially of the 
more northern ones, which has already been described by Mr. Agassiz 
(Amer. Journ. Science, March, 1901), allows free access to the water 
on all sides, and strong currents sweep through the passages and 
lagoons in all directions. This, as is noted later, has had a considerable 
influence on the distribution of the Medusae. During our visit, which 
lasted from December 25, 1901, until January 22, 1902, we made sur- 
face hauls at seventeen stations, in eleven atolls, and intermediate hauls 
at three stations, off the easterly faces of Kolumadulu, Haddummati, 
and Suvadiva atolls. The surface towing was done with a small net, 
at our nightly anchorages within the lagoons. The strong currents, 
which ran almost continuously, made it possible for us to tow when the 
‘ship was at anchor, by merely lowering the net overboard and letting 
the water run through it. 
The intermediate hauls were all made with large open nets, at depths 
from near the surface to one hundred fathoms. We took Medusae at 
VOL. XXXIX.— NO. 9 
