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Show 800 PROF. J. R. GREENE ON A RARE MEDUSA. [Dec. 16, Discomedusce Haeckel places the Charybdeidee, arranged under two orders and five families, as follows :- CONOMEDUSJE. Chary bdeida?. Bursaridae. Chiropsalinidse. PEROMEDUSJE. Periphyllida?. Pericryptidse. Haeckel, therefore, as touching the genera Charybdea and Periphylla, would seem to have reverted to the nomenclature of Fritz Muller. His work is impatiently expected, since his opportunities of studying the Medusae have been varied and extensive. The deep-sea forms obtained during the voyage of the ' Challenger' have also been intrusted to him. W e do not know what new Charybdeidee he has investigated, or whether he is justified in his apparently extreme subdivision of this group. So copious and diversified an assemblage as the Phanerocarpee will probably by most zoologists continue to be regarded as of higher rank than either of the two moieties of Gegenbaur's single family, notwithstanding that the Charybdeidee of the latter are structurally more modified and more numerous than Gegenbaur, writing in 1856, could have supposed. Before instituting his own researches on Charybdea, Claus1 reviewed with care what had been done by others. While pointing out a number of discrepancies, he shows the true significance of the structure of these Medusae, and demonstrates their affinities with great clearness. His results, critical and original, are well epitomized in his 'Zoologie'2. He neglects many ill-defined species, and thus arranges the few which have hitherto been properly described and figured. Suborder LOBOPHORA s. MARSUPIALIDA. Family C H A R Y B D E I D J S. Genus Charybdea, Per. Ch. marsupialis, Per. & Le S. Ch. haplonema, Fr. Mull. Genus Tamoya, Fr. Mull. T. quadrumana, Fr. Mull. Literature of the Charybdeidee. CLAUS, C.-Untersuchungen fiber Charybdea mursupialis. Ar-beiten a. d. zoolog. Institute der Universitat Wien, 2tes Heft, 1878, pp. 221-2/6, mit Tafel xviii.-xxii. 1 Studien iiber Polypen und Quallen der Adria. I. Acalephen (Discome dusen), 1877. Reprinted from ' Wiener Denksehriften,' Band xxxviii. See pp. 53-60. 2 G-rundzuge der Zoologie, 4te Auflage, Band i. erste Lieferung, pp. 287-289 (1879, but issued in 1878). |