EUTIMA LEV UK A. 165 



Eutima McCrady, 1857. 

 Sensu Maas (: 05). 



Eucopidae with long peduncle ; with only eight olocysts ; with only a 

 small number of tentacles (four, eight, or twelve); gonads on subumbrella, 

 on peduncle, or on both. 



Eutima levuka Agassiz and Mayer. 



Eutimeta levuka Agassiz and Mayer, '99, p. 163, pi. 9, figs. SO, SI. 

 Eutima levuka, var. occellata Maas, : 05, p. 35, taf. 7, figs. 48, 44- 



Plate 5, Figs. 2, 3 ; Plate 35, Figs. 1, 2. 



Acapulco Harbor; surface; 3 specimens, all about 6 mm. in diameter. 



The specimens all represent a younger stage than was observed either 

 by Agassiz and Mayer or by Maas, for they are considerably smaller (the 

 " Siboga " specimens, several of which were sexually mature, ranged from 

 12-20 mm. in diameter) and have only four tentacles. The number of ten- 

 tacles appears to be subject to great individual variation, since although 

 large specimens usually have eight, Maas (: 05) has noted that they may 

 have only four or six ; on the other hand, very small specimens may have 

 more than eight. The marginal bulbs have not yet attained their maximum 

 number, there being only eight to ten per quadrant, instead of sixteen to 

 twenty, as recorded by Maas (: 05, p. 36) ; but they, as well as the tentacles, 

 already show the adult structure, the former being flanked by a pair, the 

 latter by a larger number (three to five pairs) of cirri. 



Maas (: 05, p. 36) considers the pigmentation of the rudimentary tentacu- 

 lar bulbs such a valuable specific character that he makes it the basis for 

 his new variety, E. occellata. But it evidently is not so constant as he 

 supposed, for while all of the bulbs are deeply pigmented in two of our 

 specimens, in the third, equally well preserved, several of the bulbs are en- 

 tirely colorless and the pigmentation of the remainder is faint. Agassiz and 

 Mayer ('99) do not appear to have observed any pigmentation in the Fiji 

 specimens. 



Eutima levuka is apparently widely distributed over the Tropical 

 Pacific and Malaysian regions. No doubt when the Medusa fauna of this 

 region is more fully known it will be found to occur, in season, at many 

 localities besides those from which it has yet been recorded. 



