﻿IX. D. 8 



Light: Some Philippine Scyphomedusse 



221 



These medusa? with their numerous tentaclelike velar lappets, 

 their exumbrellar papilla?, and their arm appendages — all of 

 which are very long, slender, and flexible and all of which are 

 colored some shade between rose pink and purple — present a 

 most striking and beautiful appearance, and as they are found 

 on or near the surface are most conspicuous objects. 



Numbers of young fish of the genus Caranx were found living 

 in the mass of filaments and mouth arms. 



L. mayeri differs from L. smithii in that it has from 12 to 16 

 rhopalia instead of 8, in that the circular muscle is completely in- 

 terrupted in the ocular radii, in that it has a false ostium in 

 each interostial pillar, and in that the interocular canals do not 

 reach the bell margin. 



I have handled this medusa and have seen and experienced 

 the results of the sting which are very similar to those of a 

 nettle sting and are not at all serious. This is surprising in view 

 of the statements of Dr. H. M. Smith as given by Mayer with 

 regard to the closely related L. smithii Mayer. 9 It seems 

 to me much more probable that the cases of poisoning reported 

 by Old 10 were due, as I have said before, to the "Chrysaora 

 stage" of Dactylometra quinquecirrha which is common in the 

 harbor. The Filipinos state that the latter form is very pois- 

 onous, and a number of instances are known in which it has 

 caused severe symptoms of poisoning. 



I append a table of comparative measurements and the num- 

 ber of rhopalia and lappets to a paramere of the two specimens 

 of L. mayeri in the collection. 



Measurements of Lobonema mayeri sp. nov. 



Specimen 

 A. 



Specimen 

 B. 



Bell diameter millimeters. . 



Arm disk, diameter do... 



Maximum length of the velar lappets do... 



Number of rhopalia 



Number of velar lappets 



Width of the subgenital ostia — millimeters. 



Width of the interostial pillars do... 



Width of the pillar cavity (false ostium) ..do... 



Length of the mouth arms from the center of the arm disk do... 



350 



125 



180 



12 



•3-6 



= 75 



32 



25 



180 



340 



110 



200 



16 



t>3-4 



c70 



33 



22 



ISO 



»6 in 4 parameres, 5 in 2, 4 in 5, and 3 in 1. 

 » 1 in 13 parameres and 3 in 3. 



" More than twice the width of the pillar. 



Pub. Carnegie Inst. Wash. (1910), No. 109, 3, 690. 

 This Journal, Sec. B (1908), 3, 329. 



