284 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



deemed it best as well as easiest to follow in the path already made for inc. Examination of the well- 

 preserved material in the Albatross collection has led me to incline strongly to the opinion that though 

 closely related the two forms are in reality distinct. Although Prof. Joubin has described a supposed 

 P. punctatus from Kamchatka, the habitats are still widely separated. If the Japanese specimens are 

 typically like the excellent figure in the Challenger Report, I think tliey are clearl}- either a different 

 species from the California-Alaska Polypus or at least a pretty well defined geographical subspecies. 

 Should this view prove correct, I would suggest for the West American form the name P. apollyon (from 

 the Greek dnoA/lua;i.'=destroyer),<' but for the present at least the safest course seems to be to lump them 

 under P. hongkongensis, as given above. Further investigation of material from Japan may show the 

 presence of bilaterally symmetrical cirri having the arrangement seen in their trans- Pacific brethren, 

 but no specimens from the region have been available for comparison, so the whole question must be 

 left unsettled. 



It is a distressful fact that we find the time-honored name of Gabb to be imtenable, but, unless the 

 citation of d'Orbigny be in error, there would appear to be no alternative, even though the Octopus 

 punctatus of Blainville seems really to have been an Argonauta, probably A. hians Solander. The use 

 of the scarcely appropriate term hongkongensis affords but little consolation. In one way, however, it is 

 fortunate that we are able to reject Gabb's name, since I am informed that his type shared the fate of so 

 many other priceless zoological treasures in the San Francisco conflagration of igo6 and is no longer 

 available. 



Although the individuals commonly encountered in tide pools and crevices along rocky beaches are 

 not especially remarkable in respect to size, their fellows inhabiting the more secluded nooks offshore 

 are sometimes iminvitingly formidable, and, if all reports may be believed, we are here dealing with 

 possibly the largest known species of the genus. It is not yet entirely certain whether the large examples 

 reported from Alaska are really identical with this, but the following quotation from Dall (1873, p. 484- 

 485) will give some idea of the size attained by them: 



"The Octopus punctatus Gabb, which occurs at Sitka abundantly, reaches a length of 16 feet or 

 a radial spread of nearly 28 feet, but the whole mass is much smaller than that of the decapodous 

 cephalopodsof lesser length. In the Octopus above mentioned, the body would not exceed 6 inches in 

 diameter and a foot in length, and the arms attain an extreme tenuity toward their tips. " 



I have elsewhere remarked (igiia, p. 303) upon certain fragments of a very large specimen in the 

 collection of the University of California, which probably belong to this species and were obtained at the 

 Shumagin Islands, Alaska, by Dr. William E. Ritter. Remains of two almost equally large animals 

 taken by Mr. F. W. Weymouth near Half Moon Bay, California, have since been examined bj' me. The 

 entire buccal mass of the larger of these measures in alcohol 39 by 52 mm. Unfortunately no further 

 parts were preserved so their reference to the present species can scarcely be taken as established. 



Holder (1S99) has reported an Octopus (Polypus) seen near Avalon, California, the arms of which 

 had a radial spread of about twenty feet. There are frequent newspaper tales of conflicts with creatures 

 even larger, which do not seem to belong entirely to the realms of fancy. 



The affinities of P. hongkongensis are chiefly with P. gilberlianus and with the very nearly related 

 P. dofleini Wiilker from Japan. The latter species is stated to differ from P. hongkongensis chiefly in the 

 relative shortness of its arms and the much larger hectocotylus. 



Polypus gilbertianus new species. (PI. xxxv, figs. 4-5; pi. xxxvi, fig. 2; pi. xxxvn.) 



Body of moderate size, rounded pyriform in shape, a little broader than long; surface covered 

 everj'where with numerous minute rough papillae (pi. xxxv, fig. 4), which give the skin asomewhat grainy 

 texture; papillae extending well over the arms and outer surface of the umbrella, but becoming obsolete 

 ventrally ; more numerous, more irregular, and larger in the region of the eyes than elsewhere, and there 

 is a large soft flattened blunt tubercle above and slightly behind the center of each eye. 



o In which case the above-mentioned male specimen (no. 142) from Uyak Bay, Alaska, should be taken as the type. 



