68 Royal Irish Academy. 



than one- fifth of the entire length. The hody is transparent, and, 

 when agitated in the dark, becomes highly luminous — a property 

 not possessed after death. 



In conclusion, the author enumerated the localities in which it 

 had been hitherto observed, and proposed some brief specific charac- 

 ters by which it might be distinguished. 



November 30. — Mr. Ball read a paper " on a Species of Loligo, 

 found on the Shore of Dublin Bay," about three years ago. Its 

 dimensions are the following : — 



Extreme length, to the end of tentacula, 10*0 inches. 

 Do. of the body or mantle, 3'1 „ 



Do. of the head, 1*6 „ 



Average length of arms, 2*8 ,, 



Length of tentacula, 6*0 „ 



Breadth of fin, S'O 



Length of fin, 1-3 „ 



Extreme breadth of body, I'T ,, 



Length of dorsal lamina, 3*5 ,, 



Extreme breadth of dorsal lamina, .... 0'2 ,, 

 Breadth of largest horny hoops of ace- 

 tabula about 0*2 „ 



It was thus shown to be of much shorter proportions than the 

 Loligo vulgaris. Its body is urn-shaped. The large fin, which is 

 somewhat inequilateral, approximates to an ellipse in form, and 

 resembles, not a little the fin of Loligo Brongnartii, as figured by 

 Ferussac, to which it also bears likeness, in the structure of its 

 five-ribbed dorsal lamina ; but it differs from this animal in its 

 general proportions, and in the horny hoops of its acetabula, which 

 have in each of the twelve largest in the tentacula about thirty- six 

 sharp and equal teeth. The general form of the whole animal 

 much resembles Onychoteuthis Leachii — a cephalopod of a different 

 genus, with which it may be confounded by a casual observer. 

 Mr. Ball proposes to name the species Loligo Eblance*. 



In addition to the foregoing, the following species of Loligo have 

 fallen under Mr. Ball's notice, as occurring in the Irish seas : — 



Soligo sagittata, var. differing in the shortness of its tentacula 

 from the figure given by Ferussac. Several specimens were taken 

 off the coast of Cork by George Allman, Esq. 

 Loligo vulgaris. 

 Loligo media. 



* The ancient name of Dublin. 



