BRITISH NAKED-EYED MEDUSA. 359 



resting on its back and almost stretched out flat.* At times it 

 apj)eared to be divided into lobes, between lines running down 

 the gastro-vascular canals, as if fit for folding up. When in this 

 state, delicate thread-Uke markings might be seen undulating round 

 the disc; and these again intersected vertically by others run- 

 ning upwards from the edge of the mantle. These spring from 

 the bulb of every other tentacle,t apparently dividing the body 

 into delicate thread-like meshes. But such markings can be seen 

 only when the animal is much expanded. Finer and more closely- 

 set vertical markings are thickly studded on the margin j$ no 

 doubt, giving the animal the power which it exercises so remark- 

 ably, of contracting and of widely expanding the edge of the disc. 

 When the animal grew weak, the skin peeled off, and the under 

 surface became opaque; similar results followed if the creature 

 was injured in any part. The only really important difference 

 that I see between mine and those described by Agassiz is that 

 the four gastro-vascular canals of his do not run to a centre in the 

 upper part; two only join each other at each end of a short 

 fringed tube. || This gives an oval shape to the disc in his, where- 

 as in mine it is round. This, however, is a very important specific 

 difference, such as, I think, justifies me in making mine a new 

 species. I think also, that the wide and almost impassable distance 

 for such frail and short-lived rafts to travel, should make us hesi- 

 tate before considering them identically the same. Of the genera 

 I have no doubt. I trust I shall be pardoned the delight I feel in 

 having found this strange and really curious creature and adding 

 it to the Fauna of our country. I have given it the sj)ecific name 

 of Keithii, out of respect to the memory of the founder of 

 Marischal College, Aberdeen; it having been found off Keith 

 Inch, Peterhead, N.B., once the property of that noble but un- 

 fortunate house. It will also mark my respect for the place and 

 the dwellers there, where and with whom I first broke ground as 

 a naturalist in Scotland. Agassiz says its proper position is 

 amongst the Naked-eyed Medusae. 



* Plate II, fig. 5. 

 f Plate II, fig. 7. 

 J Plate II, fig. 7. 

 II Plate II, fig. 8. 



