144 



MEDITERRANEAN PROVINCE. 



more pelagic than others, whilst at the same time 

 we can see that there is a certain limitation, de- 

 pendent on latitude. 



Of the Naked-eyed Medusa, Oceania, jEquorea, 

 and Geryonia, have a great range. Foveolia and 

 JEgina are Mediterranean forms, having southern 

 relations. Our British forms of Turris and Thau- 

 mantias, which have a range north, have as yet been 

 so seldom quoted from the Mediterranean as to show 

 that the genus is sparingly represented there. 



These animals (Medusjs) swarm about the Straits 

 of Gibraltar and the Western Mediterranean ; those 

 of the Adriatic, which have been well described 

 by Professor Will, are still numerous, but they are 

 scarce in the Eastern Mediterranean, where the 

 absence of varied forms is balanced by the vast 

 numbers of the common Aurelia which are there 

 met with. 



Velella and Forpita. — Medusa-like animals, with 

 cartilaginous supports, belonging to the Lusitanian 

 Atlantic zone, are Mediterranean ; so also is Stepha- 

 nomia. Numerous forms of these and allied animals 

 were captured by the French naturalists Quoy and 

 Gaimard, p. 141 ; but, strange to say, the beautiful 

 Portuguese man of war, the Physalia pelagica, sel- 

 dom passes from the open Atlantic. Beroe, with a 

 considerable northern Atlantic range, is Mediter- 

 ranean. Of this group, the most remarkable is the 

 " girdle of Venus" (Cestum Veneris), from five to six 

 feet long, and three inches broad, a long riband-like 



