644 MR. E. T. GUNTHER ON [June 18, 



and therefore from the close of the dry season until well on into the 

 season of the great rains. The excellent state of preservation of the 

 material is greatly to the credit of the collector, and has facilitated 

 my investigation of some of the problems presented b}^ this 

 enigmatical creatui-e. Some specimens were exhibited at the 

 Meeting of the Society on March 6, 1906, a notice of the exhibit 

 appearing in the P. Z. S. 1906, p. 179. 



It has been known for some time that at certain seasons of the 

 year, three types of individuals — males, females, and those which 

 reproduce asexually by budding — occur in the lake at the same 

 time. Mr. Moir's collection, the first to reach Europe, showed 

 that all coexisted during Api-il, May, arid June. As one of the 

 results of his first expedition in 1897, Mr. J. E. S. Moore found 

 that early in March a few large specimens were reproducing by 

 budding, and that this process was so rapid that in a few weeks 

 the bays and open waters became filled with immense shoals which 

 in June and July extended for miles and miles. At the same 

 time, sexually mature individuals appeared. In his account of 

 a second expedition in 1900, Moore asserts that in September 

 and October, only sexual forms which showed no tendency to 

 produce buds were to be captured in the lake. On this evidence 

 Moore believed that he had discovered the relation of the life- 

 cycle of Limnocnida to the wet and dry seasons — viz., reproduction 

 by budding during the dry months, and sexual reproduction only 

 during the wet winter months. 



Dr. Cunnington's collections made during the wet season show 

 that this theory cannot be upheld, for all contain asexual in- 

 dividuals exhibiting active bud-formation on their manubria, and 

 these asexual individuals even outnumber the individuals with 

 smooth manubria. 



The collections are, moreover, characterised by the entire absence 

 of any mature females ; a fact which seems all the more remark- 

 able, because in a small collection of Limnocnida from Victoria 

 Nyanza which had been formed in August, and had been submitted 

 to me for examination (p. 650) all the individuals were female. 



Stated in a tabular form the present state of our knowledge 

 regarding the seasonal distribution of Limnocnida is as follows : — 



f March. Few large budding medusa? (Moore, 1897). 



T/r ' ( cJ , 2 and budding meduspe coexist 



D. Season ^ J""-'- .' (»*<'"' 1883). 



■^ I June, i c? , 2 and budding medusae in shoals 



July, j (Moore, 1897). 



August. 1 S and budding medusse 

 1^ September. J (Ounnington, 1904). 



f December. J and budding medusae. Many very 



Season of j >oung individuals. No 2 indi- 



Great <( viduals. 



Rains. j Febrviary. Old and young S and budding medusae 



l^ (Ounnington, 1904). 



