1903] Eeport on some Medusae from Norway and Spitzb ergen. 29 



just under a group of tentacles with terminal suckers. The sense- 

 organ is very small, on a short stalk and contains a single otolith. 



Now that I have found serious errors in one genus of the 

 Pectyllidae I am sceptical about the descriptions of the other two 

 genera. The type specimen of Pectis antarctica in the British Museum 

 I have seen, but unfortunately its bottle now contains only a few 

 fragments. It looks as if this solitary specimen had been thoroughly 

 dissected by Haeckel and just a few pieces placed back into a. 

 bottle. It is to be hoped that the Expeditions now in the Antarc- 

 tic regions will bring back some more specimens. 



I believe that Haeckel is the only person who has had the 

 good fortune to examine a Pectyllid alive, and this was a solitary 

 specimen of Pectanthis asteroides found by him in the Adriatic Sea. 

 Our ideas as to the habits of the Pectyllidae are entirely based on 

 this specimen which used its suckers for crawling about an aquarium. 

 We really know nothing about the natural habits of the Pectyllidae. 

 It appears to me that a medusa, which has exceptionally power ful 

 circular muscles lining the whole sub-umbrella and a strong muscu- 

 lar velum of exceptional width, whould be a strong and active 

 swimmer and not likely to spend much of its time crawling about 

 the bottom of the sea. It is more likely to use its suckers for 

 temporary attachment, like Cladonema radiatum. Further evidence 

 is certainly required to prove that the Pectyllidae are deep-sea 

 medusae. It'is worth noticing that these medusae have usually been 

 captured not far from land. At present we know absolutely no- 

 thing about the early stages, or whether an alternation of genera- 

 tions occurs in their life-histories. 



Taking into consideration our imperfect knowledge of this re- 

 markable family I do not feel justified in making any alterations 

 in our present system of classification, and prefer to regard them 

 as an aberrant family related to the Trachomedusae. When Pectis 

 antarctica and Pectanthis asteroides have been again examined it 

 may be found that one genus with three species will be quite suf- 

 ficient. 



Description. Based upon specimens in this collection. 



Umbrella either hemispherical or like a broad cone, a little 

 broader than high, with moderately thin walls. Ex-umbrella with 

 numerous longitudinal ridges. Stomach, about half the length of 

 the umbrella cavity, with eight lobes; mouth quadrate with four lips. 



