Radiata, $c. . 2937 



account of this animal. The size of the specimens which came under my notice, 

 varied from an inch and a half to about ten inches in the diameter of the bell of the 

 Medusa, at its lowest and broadest point. The external markings of the bell appeared 

 to vary much in different individuals ; in some they exactly corresponded with those 

 represented in Sir J. G. Dalyell's plate ; in others, especially the smallest specimens, 

 these markings were entirely wanting, and the surface of the bell was simply sprinkled 

 with numerous, minute brown spots ; whilst in some other specimens, these minute 

 spots were aggregated at the apex of the bell into a dense mass, which occupied the 

 place of the ventral circle denoted in Sir J. G. Dalyell's plate, from which mass of 

 spots radiated several bands composed of similar spots, but assuming the shape of a 

 wedge, the sharp point being turned towards the apex of the bell, and the broad end 

 being brought down to its base. The greater part of the specimens which I observed, 

 were furnished with a fine filament attached to the lower extremity of each of the four 

 frilled appendages which depend from the under surface of the animal. These fila- 

 ments (which are not represented iu Sir J. G. Dalyell's plate) were found, in some in- 

 stances, to extend some feet in length. The tentacula, with which the circumference 

 of the bell is fringed, vary much iu length, not only as between different individuals, 

 but also in the same individual at different times. This Medusa appears, in swim- 

 ming, to progress with the apex of the bell somewhat thrown forward as the advancing 

 point, a corresponding angle of incline being thus communicated to the remain- 

 der of the animal. Those which were observed swimming in the harbour at 

 Lowestoft, appeared to have the power of advancing against the tide. This Medusa 

 appears to be easily kept in salt water, if changed daily, and the constant contraction 

 and dilatation of the bell (which is, I believe, a motion common to all the campauu- 

 late Medusas), combined with the singular form of the animal, and its agreeable 

 colouring, characterized by rich brown markings on a pellucid white ground, ren- 

 der it an attractive object for observation, and one which, till the present summer, 

 was new to me, as it may perhaps be to some other readers of the ' Zoologist.' — /. H. 

 Gurney ; Easlon, near Norwich, September 2, 1850. 



Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 



Monthly General Meeting, September 5. — T. Charles Harrison, Esq., F.R.S., 

 in the chair. 



Viscount Newport, M.P., Sir Cornwallis Ricketts, Bt., Henry Wordsworth, Esq., 

 and George Ransome, Esq., were elected Fellows of the Society. J. S. Gaskoin, Esq., 

 and R. Hartley Kennedy, Esq., were proposed as candidates for the Fellowship. 



The Report of the Council slated that the number of visitors to the Gardens in 

 August, was 54,564, being an increase over August, 1849, of 27,892; and that the 

 number of visitors since the arrival of the hippopotamus (a period of only fourteen 

 weeks) has been 226,988. 



