Dimensions.—Diameter of the whole jelly-body 12 to 15 mm., of the central capsule 10 to 12 mm., of the nucleus 0.8 to 1.2 mm.
Habitat.—Indian Ocean, near the Maldive Islands, Haeckel, 1882, surface.
Genus 3. Thalassopila,[[10]] Haeckel, 1881, Prodromus, p. 469.
Definition.—Thalassicollida without extracapsular alveoles, but with large roundish or globular alveoles within the central capsule, with a papillate or branched nucleus in its centre.
The genus Thalassopila has, like Thalassolampe, a voluminous foamy central capsule, inflated by numerous large alveoles; but it differs in the complicated form of the nucleus, which is like that of Thalassophysa, and is either branched or occupied by conical or roundish papillæ.
1. Thalassopila cladococcus, n. sp. (Pl. [1], fig. 3).
Spherical body dark-spotted, with a thin yellowish jelly-envelope. Central capsule with a thick and firm membrane, perforated by pores; its diameter three times that of the central nucleus, three-fourths that of the whole jelly-sphere. Nucleus profusely branched or papillated, its spherical surface covered with numerous (more than a hundred) finger-shaped obtuse blind sacs, about as long as its radius. Protoplasm of the central capsule forming a loose network between the large roundish alveoles, in the cortical zone radially striped and containing one layer of large dark oil-globules. These are regularly distributed on the inside of the capsule-membrane and separated by intervals, twice as broad as its diameter, giving to the capsule-surface a spotted appearance. Extracapsular jelly-envelope thin, yellowish, with very numerous and small xanthellæ.
Dimensions.—Diameter of the whole jelly-sphere 5 mm., of the central capsule 4 mm., of the nucleus 1.3 mm.
Habitat.—Antarctic Ocean, Station 154 (south of Kerguelen), surface.