CEPHALOPODS OF WESTERN NORTH AMERICA. 277 



in a characteristic fashion, so that the general shape is not unlike that of the conventional money bag 

 or a small bean pot. (PI. xxxii, fig. 4; pi. xxxm, fig. 3.) 



Gills very large and prominent, comprising about eight or nine "lamellae." A narrow delicate 

 ridge runs along the median ventral line of the interior of the mantle, and I am inclined to regard this 

 as a remnant of a median septum in the branchial chamber, but the membranes are so delicate that the 

 torn surfaces are extremely difficult to identify, and this is by no means certain. 



Color in alcohol everywhere nearly white, with a few sparsely scattered brow-n chromatophores; 

 on the head and outer surfaces of the arms these are very minute and more or less longitudinal in arrange- 

 ment. Eyes nearly black with white lenses. 



The measurements of the unique type are as follows: 



Measurements of Eledonella heathi. 



mm. 



Total length "7 



I^cngth of mantle (dorsal) so 



Width of mantle (in wrinkled state) 37 



Width of head '9 



Length of — 



Dorsal arm 33 



Dorso-lateral arm 36-5 



Ventro-lateral arm 49 



Ventral arm 34-5 



Umbrella between — 



First arms "• S 



First and second arms r* 



Second and third anns iS 



Third and fourth arms iS- S 



Fourth arms r j 



Type, catalogue no. 214318, U. S. National Museum (no. 118 of the author's register). 



Type locality, Albatross station 4396, 2,228 fathoms, red mud Ixittom, off Santa Catalina Island, 

 Cal. But one specimen, a female, obtained. 



Owing to the very unusual range of all the species closely allied to this one, as attested by such 

 weighty authority as Dr. Hoyle, it was with considerable diffidence that I described the present form 

 as new. However, the alleged distribution is so extraordinary that one feels impelled to question 

 whether some of the apparently slight characters have not more value than has generally been vouch- 

 safed to them; or whether, since the form and facies of such creatiu-es is so very different when living 

 from the dismal objects like the limp rag to which they are reduced in the bottle before me, the true 

 differences have not been obscured or annihilated. Therefore one feels bound to regard such variation 

 as appears with the greatest respect until further material comes to hand. 



The near relatives of the present form ;irc four in number, belonging to no less than three different 

 genera, although the latter have of late been united by Professor Chun (1902, p. 167). In brief, the 

 essential differences they have to offer are as follows: 



1. Eledonella pygm<ra Yerrill, described from a specimen obtained at a depth of nearly 3,000 fath- 

 oms in the North Atlantic and not since reported, so far as I am aware. It differs in that the eyes are 

 not very prominent, the dorsal arms are much shorter than the others, and the umbrella is reduced 

 ventrally until it is quite lacking between the ventral arms. 



2. Eledonella diapkana Hoyle, described from off the north of Papua, but since reported from the 

 vicinity of the Marshall Islands, the Galapagos, off Acapulco, and near the (2ape Verde Islands. In this 

 species tlie third arms are nearly twice as long as the foiulh, which are the shortest, the siphon extends 

 for two-tliirds of the distance to the umbrella margin, and there is a well-developed median septum 

 in the branchial cavity. I am also imable to reconcile the fimnel organ of the California specimen 

 with the description and illustration given for that of E. diaphana by Hoyle (1904, p. 22, pi. 5, fig. n). 



3. Japeiclla prismatica Hoyle, type dredged by the Challenger off the Rio San Francisco, Brazil, 

 but a second specimen obtained by the Albatross from 2,232 fathoms, off Tehuantepec, Mexico, was 



