﻿April, 1857.] 



ELLIOTT SOCIETY. 



195 



The larva is found creeping upon various algae and even upon 

 denuded Gorgonia stems. The twigs bearing the polyps rise di- 

 rectly from the recumbent stem and attain considerable length. 

 The cell has a pretty regularly conical form, the dentations of its 

 margin are deep, and between the teeth thus formed stretches a 

 delicate membrane of such tenuity as frequently to escape vision. 

 The oral proboscidiform projection of the polyp is quite long, the 

 number of tentacula from twenty to twenty-two. They appear 

 to be arranged in a double row. The prolific capsule is not ex- 

 actly sessile upon the creeping stem, but connected with it by a 

 very short annulate neck. It is capacious and of an elegant 

 urn-shape, annulate at base and very broad at its mouth, which 

 is filled by a large untentaculate polyp-body. The digestive 

 cavity of this polyp still remains as a large sinus while its me- 

 dusa-buds are already far advanced. The campanulate form of 

 the latter is visible, while they yet lie motionless buds within the 

 capsule. * 



This species I have not, as yet, found during the winter, and 

 only in July and September during the summer. It appears to 

 grow below low water mark. 



LAOMEDEA. Lamouroux. 



As yet nothing is sufficiently known as to the adult condition 

 of the Medusas of this genus, to point out any distinction between 

 them and the genus Eucope proper. The larva differs in the fol- 

 lowing particulars : 



The whole polypidom appears rather more massive, not so deli- 

 cate as in Campanularia. At the origin of each petiole supporting 

 a polyp is an enlargement of the stem-canal. The aperture of 

 the medusa-bearing cell is small, the cell being constricted above. 



These differences seem tolerably constant through a number of 

 species, and may possibly correspond to differences yet to be 

 observed in the adult medusa. 



Distribution. — British and Belgian Seas, New England, South 

 Carolina. 



LAOMEDEA DIVARICATA, nov. spec. 



Of this species I have only once seen a single specimen. The 

 branches of the polypidom parted from the stem at a large angle, 

 the cup were quite shallow and broad at the top. The mem- 

 brane which passes inward from the lip of the cup towards the 



