﻿Medusce and Ctenophores from Firth of Forth. 309 



whence it has been recorded by Fleming, Forbes and Goodsir, 

 Dalyell, and others, as cited above. Prof. M'Intosh, in his 

 Notes from St Andrews Bay, remarks that, while the finest 

 examples are to be found in mid-winter, at no period is the 

 water devoid of them, and throughout the greater part of the 

 year small forms are mingled with the larger. 



Bolina infundibulum (Fab.). 



? Beroe bilohata, Dalyell, op. ext., ii., 1848, p. 254. 



Perhaps the most interesting species met with is the fine 

 ctenophore, referred to on page 300, which we unhesitatingly 

 refer to the Beroe {Bolina) infundibuhim, Fab., as understood 

 by Chun^ and Vanhoffen.^ In Dunbar Harbour on 27th 

 June it was very plentiful — we must have seen not far short 

 of a thousand. The sight was one not readily to be for- 

 gotten. On 2nd July it was equally abundant, and on the 

 11th only a little less so ; but on subsequent visits in Aug., 

 September, Oct., and Dec. (5th) none were to be seen. On 

 12th, 14th, and 21st December, however, a similar, though 

 not so large, shoal was met with at Burntisland Harbour. 

 Many examples were captured at both localities; but, as 

 already mentioned, we were unable to preserve any of them 

 in a serviceable condition. The Dunbar examples ranged 

 from f of an inch to Z\ inches in length; at Burntisland 

 they were on the average rather larger, many reaching a 

 length of 3-4 inches, while one was no less than 5;^ inches 

 (130 mm.). Some discharged ova in our jars. 



Owing to inadequate descriptions, and the difficulty of 

 preserving types, this species is cumbered with a consider- 

 able synonymy. According to Chun (l.c) it is the Mnemia 

 norvegica of Sars, the Bolina hihernica of Patterson, the 

 Alcinoe smithii of Forbes and Goodsir — under which names 

 it has been recorded from the west of Scotland,^ and Ireland 

 — and the Beroe bilolata of Dalyell, which was probably 

 obtained from the Forth although no locality is given. 



^ Die Ctenophoren der Plankton- Expedition, 1898. 

 ^ Nordisches Plankton, xi., Ctenophoren, 1903. 



^ An early record (and fig.) of "Bolina hibernica^' from Whiting Bay, 

 Arran, will be found in Landsborough's 'Excursions to Arran,' 1847, pp. 322 

 and 326. 



