66 MULLER ON THE MALE OF 



If this were demonstrable from the original manuscript, it 

 would afford an important evidence in favour of the immediate 

 transportation of the Hectocotylus from the whole male upon 

 the female Argonaut. 



In the following pages I will bring forward for comparison 

 all that is to be said concerning the two other known kinds of 

 HectocotyluSy for it is precisely the very striking differences and 

 similarities of the three Hectocotyli with one another, that pro- 

 mise in course of time to afford an insight into the meaning of 

 the separate organs and the nature of this singular creature as a 

 whole. 



For this purpose I refer to the description by Kolliker of the 

 Hectocotylus Tremoctopodis, and to that of the Hectocotylus Octo- 

 pedis by Cuvier and Verany. Although the identity of the spe- 

 cies of Octopus, in which Cuvier and Verany found their Hecto- 

 cotyli, is not demonstrated, yet the Hectocotyli are so nearly re- 

 lated that they may well be considered together. 



Hectocotylus Octopodis, 



As Kolliker has shown, the Hectocotylus of the Octopus is di- 

 stinguished from that of the Argonaut not only by its greater size, 

 but because at one extremity instead of the filiform appendage 

 there is a vesicle containing a filament ; in other respects the 

 two forms essentially agree. 



Upon comparing the figures of Cuvier and Verany, we find 

 that the " solid cylindrical body '' which Cuvier indicates as the 

 origin of the silky thread is the muscular axis ; the supposed 

 nervous threads of Cuvier are the vascular trunks, which in 

 Hectocotylus Argonautm take on a similar appearance in spirit ; 

 the sac [e) filled with the coils of a white thread is the thicker 

 seminal capsule ; the canal {h) is the ductus deferens upon the 

 back ; the " ston^iach '^ {d ) corresponds with the pigmented 

 dorsal capsule of Hectocotylus Argonautce. The position of the 

 aperture of this capsule alone differs, since in Hectocotylus Ar~ 

 gonaut(B it remains at the posterior end, while Cuvier has depicted 

 it at the anterior (/). According to this figure and Cuvier's 

 statement that this opening (which he calls a mouth) in the fresh 

 state is slit-like and leads into the pigmented capsule, as well as 

 from the analogy of Hectocotylus Argonauta, I cannot agree 



