Tripedalia endured captivity much more hardily than the Charybdea, and
would live in aquaria happily enough for a number of days--no attempt was
made to see how long. Specimens with their stomach pockets filled with
ripe spermatozoa, or with young at any stage from egg to planula, were
taken in plenty from the latter part of June to the latter part of July.
In each female the young were all at the same stage. The embryos were
thrown out in the aquaria as free-swimming planulæ, which settled down on
the bottom and sides of the glass in a day or two, and quickly developed
into small hydras with mouth and typically with four tentacles (and four
tænioles, W. K. B.), though three and five were by no means uncommon.
In this condition they lived for three weeks without essential change,
and they were still giving no promise of further development when the
laboratory broke up and the jars had to be emptied.
b. _External Anatomy._
The structure of the Cubomedusæ seems to be that of a type well
established, and accordingly offers no very wide range of diversity among
the different genera. The Charybdea that has just been described is a
very typical form and will serve well as a standard with which to compare
our species of Tripedalia. The resemblances are so close that a detailed
account of the anatomy of the second form would involve much needless
repetition. It is hardly necessary to do more than merely point out in
what points Tripedalia resembles Charybdea and in what points it differs.
The form of the bell is less pyramidal than in Charybdea. Some
measurements even gave the breadth greater than the height. The external
surface is divided, as typical for the Cubomedusæ, into the four
perradial sides and the four convex interradial ridges, and the furrows
that separate these areas are with one small exception exactly the same
as those of Charybdea, as may be seen by comparing the series of sections
of Tripedalia (Figs. 21-30) with those of Charybdea (Figs. 6-15). The
exception is almost too slight to mention. The adradial furrow in each
octant which sets off the corner rib from the perradial surface in the
lower part of the bell is not directly continuous, as in Charybdea, with
the corresponding furrow in the upper part of the bell--that is, the
_afr´_ of Figs. 24-27 is not continuous with the _afr_ of Figs. 22 and
23, as is seen by both being shown in Fig. 24. The upper furrow (_afr_)
is continued only a short distance, however, below the starting point of
the lower (_afr´_).
The pedalia conform entirely to the description given those of Charybdea,
except that there are three attached to the bell margin in each
interradius instead of one, and that the blade of each pedalium is much
narrower.
The sensory clubs also show exactly the same relation to the bell and
exactly the same structure.
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