1048 CEPHALOPODA. [Dibranchia. 



terior half of the mantle. Eye-opening with an anterior sinus. Arms 

 without a connecting membrane. Suckers rather close together, their 

 rings denticulated. Tentacular arms very long, the clubs not much 

 expanded. On the median part of the club there are 4 rows of large 

 suckers with denticulated rings, the median ones the largest, di- 

 minishing in size distally ; at the end of the club a large number of 

 very small suckers with smooth rings. Carpal part of tentacular 

 arms with numerous pads and smooth suckers ; this fastening- 

 apparatus extends over a great part, of the tentacular arm as some- 

 what distant pairs of one pad and one sucker. A funnel groove is 

 present. Gladius with rhachis and a feather-shaped vane, which has 

 ;it the end the margins turned inwards, thus forming a hollow cone. 



These Cephalopods attain a very large size : A. princeps. Verrill, 

 attains a length, tentacular arms included, of over 40 ft. 



Species were recorded from Alaska, Japan, Island of St. Paul, 

 coast of Ireland, Newfoundland, New Zealand. 



1. Architeuthus Kirkii, Robson, 1887. 



Architeuthis Kirkii, C. W. Robson, T.N.Z.I.. xix, 188(i (1887), loo : Index. 58. 



Epidermis covered with a great number of minute specks of a 

 bright red-brown colour. Under this the flesh was white and firm. 

 The body slender, cylindrical, the sides nearly straight, having a 

 small caudal fin, or fins, for they did not extend quite to the end of the 

 tail or unite across the body. The outer edges of these fins, if pro- 

 duced so as to meet, would have formed a perfect oval. The head 

 was short and thick, with large eyes furnished with a lid, the mouth 

 being armed with a large and powerful beak. The 8 sessile arms were 

 of equal length (6 ft. 6 in.), but not of equal thickness, though all were 

 thick and strong; 2, those next the tentacular arms, were much 

 stouter than the other 6, being as large at the base as an average 

 man's leg 8 in. above the knee. All the sessile arms were furnished 

 with stalked suckers, having a row of incurved teeth, and varying in 

 size from those at the base, with a diameter of 1^ in., to that of a small 

 pea at the point. The tentacular arms were long and slender, almost 

 exactly similar to those of A. Verrilli, as figured by T. W. Kirk. They 

 had also the same arrangement of small tubercles and suckers, at 

 intervals of 2 ft. from the club to the base. The club differed from 

 that of A. Verrilli chiefly in having small suckers on very long stalks 

 placed along the margins between the large ones. The internal shell 

 was lanceolate, rather broad, transparent, and brittle when first 

 taken from the body. It was in several pieces, owing probably to its 

 having been broken during the animal's struggles to regain the water. 



This Decapod is not similar to any which I have previously met 

 with, or of which I have seen descriptions ; it differs chiefly in the 

 shape of the caudal fin, in the large size of two of the sessile arms, 

 in the arrangement of the suckers on the clubs, and in the unusual 

 size of the beak. 



