254 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



the prevailing colour and in the adults a dark reddish 

 brown. A few adult specimens were taken with brilliant 

 crimson tentacle-bulbs and with the ring and radial canals 

 also full of a crimson pigment, not in circulation, but as 

 small particles in the endoderm cells. These brilliantly 

 coloured specimens are an exception and duller colours 

 usually prevail. Another medusa — Euphysa aurata — 

 shows a similar brilliancy of colour in a few specimens 

 only. 



The most interesting feature connected with this 

 medusa is the carrying of young hydroids in the umbrella 

 cavity. So far as I know this has not been recorded 

 before in any other medusa. I first observed this in the 

 specimens taken in 1893 which led me to obtain more 

 specimens in 1894 so that I might investigate the 

 development of the ovum. This I have nearly completed 

 by means of series of sections and the results will be 

 published soon. "When the medusa first appeared at the 

 end of March the asexual method of budding medusae 

 from the base of the large tentacle alone existed, which 

 must add considerably to the original number of medusas 

 which leave the hydroid. Each medusa buds off at least 

 four other medusae, all of which become sexual later on, 

 and some of the young medusae have also medusa-buds. 

 About the middle of April the reproductive cells began to 

 appear on the manubrium, at first as a slight swelling of a 

 transparent gelatinous appearance, faintly tinged with a 

 yellowish-brown colour. When squeezed, the mass breaks 

 up into small round cells (germinal cells), each with a 

 nucleus. As these cells increase in size a large oval mass 

 is formed upon the manubrium. It appears from sections 

 that one of the original germinal cells becomes the ovum 

 which increases in size at the expense of the other germinal 

 cells which are absorbed. The ovum remains attached to 



