﻿April, 1857.] 



ELLIOTT SOCIETY. 



161 



below. The 'disk above the digestive trunk is very thick, the 

 sexual ribbons extend about two-thirds of the distance from the 

 digestive trunk to the marginal bulbs. In the males this gland 

 is rounded below, rather opaque, and has the appearance of con- 

 taining a somewhat twisted cord; in the female the ovary is 

 pointed below, does not reach quite so low down as in the male, 

 is more transparent, and never presents the twisted appearance, 

 so far as my observations extend. The ova are plainly visible, 

 and frequently so crowded as to lose their circular outline. The 

 digestive cavity is fusiform, between the bases of the sexual 

 glands, tapering in a sort of oesophagus towards the mouth, which 

 is of waved outline, giving the impression of rudimentary lips. 

 At a considerable distance above the mouth, between the sexual 

 lobes, are inserted the oral tentacula, which are long and very 

 much branched, (fig. ],) and of precisely the same structure as 

 those of Hippocrene. I have never seen the trunk approach ex- 

 tension beyond the vail, as Prof. Agassiz seems to indicate, oc- 

 curs in N. Bachei. The four radiate tubes appear buried in the 

 sexual glands for a considerable part of their course, and near 

 the margin lose themselves in the opaque, compound, tentaculif- 

 erous bulbs. These have the structure figured by Forbes in H. 

 Brittanica The ocelli of the club-shaped tentacula are carried 

 on their lower surface, turned somewhat inwards, that is, towards 

 each other; the ocelli of the other tentacula on their upper sur- 

 faces, (fig. la.) In full grown individuals the number of tentac- 

 ula to each bulb is 8+ 1 + 1 + 8 = 18. They are very contractile, 

 with the exception of the clavate pair, which possess the power of 

 elongation and contraction in a very limited degree only. The 

 filiform tentacula may be elongated, as in fig. 1, or reduced to 

 mere knobs, as in fig. 3, while the clavate can only shorten 

 themselves a little, or elongate themselves so far as to pass round 

 the bulb, and just appear on the inside of the bell cavity. 



The appearance of this Medusa is at once singular and beauti- 

 ful. The conspicuous crescentic outline of the pale, orange-col- 

 ored sexual ribbons, the vivacious movements of the mouth and 

 its appendages, the graceful, waving outline of the flapping disk, 

 with the clavate tentacula carried erect, as if always on the 

 watch, the others floating in various curves or tightly curled at 

 their extremities, make it an unusually remarkable object, even 

 in this remarkable group. 



It is with no small pleasure that I have here availed myself of 



