292 MR. w. E. DE wiNToy ON CA>ris vuLPES. [Mar. 7, 



the animals themselves were by no means new to science. They 

 had been recorded from the Lake by Boehm in 1887. They had 

 also been seen by Mr. Muir, and obtained by him, and their anatomy 

 described by Mr. E. T. Griinther'. But, notwithstanding this, the 

 Medusa was of perennial interest, in that it is, with the exception 

 of Limiiocodium, the single representative of a true freshwater 

 Jellyfish. All the other instances which had been recorded of 

 Jellyfish inhabiting freshwaters had turned out to be examples 

 of the fact that Jellyfish could migrate, under certain circum- 

 stances, considerable distances from the sea, just in the same way 

 that Crabs and Prawns and flat-fi?h were sometimes found far up 

 the estuaries of rivers beyond the tidal range. Nevertheless, all 

 these organisms were typically marine, and the very last place 

 where anyone would have looked for Jellyfish was Lake Tangan- 

 yika, on the top of the interior African plateau, and 700 miles from 

 the sea. 



Mr. Moore himself had observed the Jellyfish early in March, and 

 shortly afterwards they began to increase rapidly by budding, so that 

 in a few weeks the bays and open waters of the Lake were filled 

 with immense swarms of Medusae. The buds on the manubrium 

 became detached in strings and shreds in such a manner as to 

 curiously resemble minute siphonophores. 



About June or July the budding ceased, and shortly afterwards 

 ciliated embryos appeared in great quantities, which developed 

 into small Medusae exactly like the buds, and towards September 

 all reproductive activity appeared to have come to an end. It 

 thus appeared that the life-cycle of Limnochnida was complete 

 without the introduction of any hydroid stage, and accordingly, 

 although a most careful search had been made among the debris on 

 the bottom of the Lake, upon the shells of molluscs, and upon 

 the appendages of crabs and other Crustacea, no hydroid had ever 

 been found. Hence it was inferred that the various surmises which 

 have been put forward respecting the possibility of Limnochnida 

 being related to the Macro-Medusae were probably true. 



Mr. W. E. de Winton, F.Z.S,, exhibited and made remarks upon 

 the tail of a Common Fox (Canisvulpes), showing the gland on the 

 upper surface covered with straight coarse hair, which appeared 

 to be little known. This gland, which emitted an aromatic odour, 

 was found in all the Canidse, with possibly the exception of 

 Lyeaon pictus. Although the bases of the hairs covering the gland 

 were usually almost white, the tips were always black ; this colour 

 generally extended to the surrounding hairs, and often formed dark 

 bars on the buttocks. The dark spot on the dorsum of the tail 

 was particularly conspicuous, notably in such widely sepai-ated 

 species as the Wolves, Azara's Dog, and the Fennec. 



^ See Ann. & Mag. N. H. ser. 0, xi. p. 269. 



