One is strongly tempted by the foregoing comparison to speculate a little
as to whether the reproductive organs of the Cubomedusæ, which lie _in_
the stomach pockets and are generally supposed to be endodermal, may not
bear some closer relation to those of the Trachomedusæ, which lie “in the
course of” the radial canals (Lang’s Text-book) and by common consent
are ectodermal. And while we are being led by facts such as those just
mentioned above to wonder just a little whether after all the position
of the Cubomedusæ among the Acraspeda is so firmly assured--doubting
some, yet in the frame of mind of one who “fears a doubt as wrong”--the
velarium suggests itself as another point in question. Haeckel does not
hesitate to state emphatically that the velarium of the Cubomedusæ and
the velum of the Craspedote medusæ are only analogous, but the reasons
that he gives (sie sind unabhängig von einander entstanden, und ihre
Structur ist zwar ähnlich, aber keineswegs identisch; namentlich das
Verhalten zum Nervenring ist wesentlich verschieden: System, p. 426)
somehow do not produce so much impression upon one as the very velum-like
appearance of the velarium itself. The origin from the fusion of marginal
lobes is not as yet a matter of observation, and the relation to the
nerve ring is not essentially different from that of the velum to the
lower (_i. e._ inner) nerve ring in the Craspedotæ. The four frenula and
the diverticula from the gastro-vascular system seem to be the chief
differences in structure after all, and these Haeckel evidently did not
think worth mentioning. This speculation, as to the possible relation of
the Cubomedusæ to such forms of the veiled medusæ as Liriope, though it
may be very tempting, is scarcely fruitful enough to repay much effort
on the part of either reader or writer. The whole subject must remain
uncertain until the facts of the development of the Cubomedusæ are known.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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