BIGELOW: MEDUSAE FROM THE MALDIVE ISLANDS. 255 
twenty mm.; and the bell is two thirds as high as broad. The tentacles may be 
extended to nearly a foot in length, and are exceedingly flexible and contractile. 
When retracted they are usually coiled spirally, and this coiling may take place 
at any point in their length without affecting the rest of the tentacle. In life 
they stream out far behind the bell. They are thirty-two in number, arranged 
in four series. First, four, opposite the radial canals; second, four alternat- 
ing with these; third, eight, alternating with the eight already mentioned. 
Every tentacle of these three series is opposite a canal, blind or radial; but 
the sixteen of the fourth series alternate with the canals. The bell margin 
also bears numerous cirri (Plate 4, Fig. 11), which, as well as the tentacles, 
are spirally coiled when retracted. Neither cirri nor tentacles bear lateral 
spurs. 
The blind canals, which are the most important structural features of the 
Medusa, are arranged in two series, the first of four, alternating with the radial 
canals, and reaching up for two thirds the height of the bell; the second of 
eight, about one half as long, and alternating with the radials and blind canals 
of the first series. They are all in free communication with the ring canal, and 
each is opposite a tentacle. 
The peduncle hangs below the bell opening for a distance at least equal to 
the height of the bell cavity. Throughout most of its length it is nearly cylin- 
drical, but at its base it is somewhat funnel-shaped. At its distal end it passes, 
without any external separation, into the stomach, which is barrel-shaped in 
outline, and bears four prominent lips. These lips are, in life, the most strik- 
ing feature of the Medusa. They are very long, and so extensible that they 
may reach a length considerably greater than that of peduncle and stomach 
combined. They are rather narrow, and their edges are thrown into innumer- 
able constantly changing folds. 
The gonads consist of a great number of simple and branched papilliform 
processes so closely crowded on the alternate sides of the radial canals that they 
form four prominent double ridges. They occupy slightly more than the distal 
half of the peduncle, and their relative extension seems, in adult specimens, to 
be practically invariable. 
The coloring of this Medusa is exceedingly brilliant. The gelatinous sub- 
stance of the bell is faintly tinged with blue: the gonads are rich Indian yellow, 
changing in certain lights to ruddy orange. In sharp contrast to them, the 
stomach and mouth arms are pink-violet; the radial canals and tentacles are 
rose pink, and there is a pink pigment spot at the base of every tentacle. 
Abundant in Haddummati atoll, near Gadu island, on January 8. It appeared 
on the surface in great numbers at about four o’clock in the afternoon, when 
the bright colors and long streaming tentacles of the animals made them very 
conspicuous objects. 
The fact that blind canals have never before been detected in the adult of 
any species of Eucopidae is at once sufficient to separate Timoides generically. 
The number of these canals and the relative extension of the gonads will prob- 
ably prove to be of specific importance. 
