64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Feb., 



mm. 



Length of right ventral arm 10 



Length of left ventral arm 10 



Length of right tentacle 21 



Length of right tentacle club 5 



Length of left tentacle 16 



Length of left tentacle club 5 



Remarks. — The elucidation of the compact little group of squids, 

 of Avhich M. pardus is a typical example, has been for me one of the 

 most difficult taxonomic problems encountered in the study of the 

 cephalopoda. All the species are represented in collections by such 

 scanty material, are so similar to one another, and the characters 

 which separate them appear of such a trivial nature, that the de- 

 scribed forms are in sore need of careful checking up by someone 

 having access to the type specimens of the older species. At the 

 same time, the species are quite well set apart from other Cran- 

 chiids, so that a synopsis of the genus would include only the 

 following : 3 



1. Megalocranchia maxima Pfeffer 1884. 



2. Taonius abyssicola Goodrich 1896. 



3. Helicocranchia fisheri Berry 1909. 



4. Desmoteuthis pelludda Chun 1910. 



5. Megalocranchia pardus Berry 1915. 



The second of these is little known, is unique in several respects, 

 and may eventually prove to belong elsewhere. On the other hand, 

 the first, third, and fourth are apparently not strongly differentiated, 

 and it is with these that the present species requires special com- 

 parison to justify its separate recognition. The specimen most 

 certainly represents a species different from M. fisheri, the only 

 other Megalocranchia with which I have had opportunity for com- 

 paring it, but to Chun's pelludda it seems exceedingly close. The 

 description and figures of the latter are not now available to me, 

 but from my notes made therefrom a few years ago, I feel that the 

 differences, though so slight, are nevertheless too great for uniting 

 the species. In reaching this conclusion I place reliance upon the 

 almost stalked eyes of M. pardus, the immense development of the 

 funnel, and the denticulation of the horny rings. 



3 The species described as Desmoteuthis tenera Verrill {Trans. Conn. Acad. Sri., 

 5, p. 412) now seems to me to be improperly grouped with the cask-shaped, 

 round-finned forms cited above. As I have shown in a former paper (Science, 

 X. S., 36, pp. 643-646), the genus Desmoteuthis falls into the absolute synonymy 

 of Taonius, so can no longer be used here. I would therefore propose for the 

 reception of D. tenera the new genus Verrilliteuthis. To name the group for 

 the master of American teuthologists requires no excuse save posibly an 

 apology for the resulting barbarism. 



