Morphological variation in the hydromedusa genus Polyorchis on the west coast of North America

Morphological variation in the hydromedusan genus Polyorchis on the west coast of North America is analyzed in relation to gonad number, tentacle number, and radial canal diverticula number relative to the height of the bell. In specimens of Polyorchis examined, it is concluded that P. penicillatus (Eschscholtz, 1829) is highly variable morphologically over its known geographic range from Alaska to Baja California. Polyorchis montereyensis Skogsberg, 1948 is considered a synonym of P. penicillatus, and P. haplus Skogsberg, 1948, is retained as a valid species.

Propagated spikes and secretion in a coelenterate glandular epithelium.

The rete mirabile of Hippopodius (Cl. Hydrozoa, O. Siphonophora) is a sheet of giant endoderm cells penetrated by branches of the ventral radial canal. The cells appear to be highly polyploid. The rough ER is very richly developed and expanded ER cisternae containing amorphous material (presumably synthesized protein) are observed near the outer cell surface. The cells are electrically coupled, and are connected by gap junctions. The rete is electrically excitable and cell to cell conduction of action potentials at 10 cm/s is observed. The action potentials are all-or-none, positive-going events, showing amplitudes of about 70 mV and arising from a 44 mV resting potential. Slowly developing and decaying secondary depolarizations, capable of summing to the 20 mV level, are also observed. After passage of a train of impulses, the rete cells swell and secretion drops appear at the surface, these changes becoming apparent within a few seconds. In 15 mM Mn2+ the response fails to occur, and secondary depolarizations ("secretion potentials") are not seen. Spike propagation is not affected. In Na+-free solutions the spikes are reduced and propagation eventually fails. It is suggested that the spikes are sodium-dependent events which trigger a calcium-dependent secretory process. The composition and biological activity of the secretion are uncertain, but indirect evidence suggests a possible defensive or repellant role for the response.

Distribution and Morphology of the Medusa, Calycopsis nematophora, from the North Pacific Ocean

The medusa, Calycopsis nematophora, is reported from the North Pacific for the first time since its original description. It is restricted to arctic-subarctic surface waters. Radial canal variation and other morphological characters are discussed.

On a new medusa, Krampella dubia n.g., n.sp.

In a collection made with a 2 m stramin ring trawl at 47°03′ N., 5° 47′ W. on 4 July 1956, with 800 fathoms of wire out, I have found a new species of medusa. This specimen is in a comparatively good state of preservation except that the stomach is badly damaged.The umbrella is hemispherical and the jelly is moderately thick. The form of the stomach cannot be described for certain. Parts of it are to be seen as narrow strips hanging down from the upper ends of three of the radial canals. One of these strips is continued for a short distance along the subumbrella surface towards the summit. It has the form of two short curtains with a space between them which leads into the radial canal. It thus seems quite possible that the stomach is i n fact an open cross with mouth lips extending along each arm as in Staurophora.

I. The Croonian lecture. —“ Observations on the locomotor system of echinodermata

In Holothuria the polian vesicle opens freely into a wide circular canal a short distance from the termination of the stone canal. From this circular canal five lozenge-shaped sinuses project forwards, and from each of these two large oval sinuses run forward parallel with each other─the ten oval sinuses becoming continuous with the hollow stems of the tentacles. Injection of the polian vesicle shows that it forms one continuous tube system with the circular canal and its sinuses, oval sinuses and tentacles, ampullæ and pedicels. Unless the pressure is kept up for a considerable time there is no penetration of the injected fluid into the stone canal, and either the ring, the vesicle, or a sinus gives way before the fluid reaches the madreporic plate. Specimens injected with a gelatine mass show that each canal sinus opens into a cæcal tube, which runs forwards internal to the sinuses of the tentacles as far as a wide circum-oral space. This space communicates by well-defined apertures with that portion of the body cavity which lies between the sinuses and the œsophagus, and which is reached through the circular apertures between the sinuses of the circular canal. Each canal sinus has three other apertures in its walls. It opens by a small round aperture into a radial canal, and the two other apertures occur as minute slits, one at each side of the orifice of the radial canal leading into the adjacent tentacle sinuses. When the tentacle into which the sinus opens is protruded, there is no constriction between the sinus and the tentacle ; but when the ten­tacle is retracted, there is a well-marked constriction at the junction of the sinus with the tentacle. The eversion of the perisome and the protrusion of the tentacles are effected chiefly by the shortening of the polian vesicle and the constriction of the longitudinal muscular bands, which run from the inner surface of the body wall between each two adjacent tentacle-sinuses ; but the circular fibres of the body wall also assist in the process by contracting immediately behind the group of sinuses, so as to act on them by direct pressure, and also indirectly by forcing the body fluid against them.