No.9.— Acalephs from the Fiji Islands. By ALEXANDER 
AGassiz and ALFRED GOLDSBOROUGH MAYER. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Dorine a visit to the Fiji Islands, extending from November 7, 1897, 
to January 13, 1898, we devoted considerable time to a study of the 
Marine pelagic fauna. We made use only of open tow-nets, and while 
the majority of our hauls were made upon the surface, a number were 
also made at depths varying from twenty-five to one hundred fathoms. 
Most of these deeper hauls were made at a station three to five miles 
south of the entrance of Suva Harbor, and it was remarkable that the 
tows drawn from one hundred fathoms were far richer, both in number 
and variety of species, than were those made at twenty-five to fifty 
fathoms. No precise conclusions can, however, be drawn concerning the 
*bathymetrical distribution of marine organisms from these results, for, 
owing to the fact that the mouth of the tow-net was constantly open, 
we cannot state the depth from which any given animal may have come ; 
and, moreover, the near proximity of the land, and the extremely com- 
plex currents and eddies that are so characteristic of this region of 
Coral Reefs, probably play a far more important part in the distribution 
of pelagic organisms than does the mere fact of depth. The breakers 
are constantly forcing the ocean water over the reefs into the shallow 
lagoons, from which it finds access again into the sea through the 
openings in the walls of the reef, so that in some instances one finds a 
strong current, that is in great measure independent of the tide, con- 
stantly flowing outward from the lagoon into the open ocean. Such 
currents acting in conjunction with the tidal flow cause extensive eddies 
that result in a very ununiform distribution of pelagic life. 
Besides our hauls in the neighborhood of Suva we made others off 
Taviuni, Kimbombo, Vanua Mbalavu, Ngamia, Wailangilala, Totoya, 
Mbatiki, Kandavu, and Nukulau Islands. The hauls were rich in 
Crustacea, but deficient in the number of Worms, Echinoderm larvee, 
and Medusz. Indeed, our success was remarkably inferior when com- 
VOL. XXXII. —NO. 9. 1 
