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Show 164 MESSRS. L. MURBACH AND c. SHEARER ON [June 16, 7. On Medusae from the Coast of British Columbia and Alaska. By Louis M U R B A C H and CRESSWELL SHEARER, r .Z.fe. [Received April 8, 1903.] (Plates XVII.-XXII.*) INTRODUCTION. The Medusa? forming the basis of the present paper were collected by one of the authors, during a short trip to the coast of British Columbia, in the summer of 1900, in company with Prof. MacBride, of Montreal. They were obtained mostly in the immediate vicinity of Victoria Harbour, Vancouver Island, and the adjoining waters of Puget Sound. The rocky nature of the coast, shelving off rapidly into deep water, combined with the strong tidal currents of the main portion of Puget Sound which sweep in close to the shore, make this a very favourable point for the collection of pelagic life. Victoria Harbour itself, almost completely land-locked and several miles in length, affords shelter for many Medusae not found in the more exposed and open waters of the Sound. W e are indebted to Prof. Kincaid for kindly placing at our disposal a small but well-preserved collection of Medusa? from Alaska and the region of Puget Sound about Port Townsend. The range of our original collection has been considerably extended, and we have obtained valuable material for comparison from different localities. While the number of species obtained is small, we have been fortunate in securing numerous examples of almost all of these. Where only a few individuals of a species have been obtained, doubt has been expressed as to identity. Measurements apply to material preserved in 3 per cent, formalin in sea-water. Our best thanks are due to Dr. Newcomb, President of the Natural History Society of Victoria, B.C., for the facilities he kindly afforded us in collecting and for much general information regarding the fauna, for which we feel deeply grateful, and to Mr. Adam Sedgwick, of the Morphological Laboratory, Cambridge, for placing the resources of the Laboratory at our disposal. The list of species represented in the collection is as follows :- Codonium apiculum, sp. nov.f Syndictyon angidatum. Dipurena dolichogaster. * For explanation of the Plates, see p. 192. f This list, with a brief notice of the new species, has been published in the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' ser. 7, vol. ix. (1902). |