276 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



Argonauta pacifica is the common "paper nautilus" of tlie Southern California coast. Although of 

 more than frequent occurrence, especially in the neighborhood of the Channel Islands, this graceful 

 species is not represented in any of the collections at my disposal, and hence I am unable to describe it 

 further or to represent it by figures. On the authority of Cooper, Carpenter speaks of "Hxmdreds on 

 beach at Sta. Cruz Is.," and this seems to have been no exaggeration, although the species is somewhat 

 sporadic in occurrence. The beautiful shells are very commonly met with in curio stores, being usually 

 held for fancy prices in the hope of ensnaring the imwary tourist. This is in large part an explanation 

 of the rarity of specimens in the coast museums. Living examples are sometimes to be seen in tlie aqua- 

 rium at Avalon, and it is somewhat surprising that no complete description of even the external fea- 

 tures of the animal has foimd its way to print. 



The range of the species appears to be a wide one, for it has been reported to occur from Monterey 

 Bay as far to the southward as the Galapagos Islands. We may well expect to hear of its occurrence 

 in even more distant waters, for like all other members of the genus, its habits are pelagic. 



Family POLYPODID/E Hoyle, 1904. 



OCTOPID^ D'Orbigny. 



ocTOPODiD.,B auctt. 



Genus ELEDONELLA Verrill, 1884. 



EledoneUa Verrill, 18S4. p. 144. 

 Hoyle, 1886. p. 106. 



Body of moderate size, soft and saccular, without fins. JIantle opening very wide. A median 

 septum present in the branchial cavity. Arms slender, the third pair much the largest; suckers in a 

 single row, usually large and urceolate; umbrella short. Right third arm hectocotylized. 



This genus comprises a small number of deep-sea octopods having a very anomalous distribution, 

 as is to be noted later. The genera Boliimna "Steenstrup" Hoyle and Japetella Hoyle are united with 

 Eledonella by Chxm, but under the name given by Steenstrup, although Bolitcena was not diagnosed 

 until two years after the description of Ekdonellafl 



Type, E. pygmcsa Verrill, 1884, a deep-sea species of the North Atlantic. 



Eledonella heathi Berry, 1911. (PI. xxxii, fig. 4; pi. xxxiii, fig. 2-4.) 



Eledonella heathi Berry, 1911, p. 589. 



Mantle smooth, saccular, inflated, of a subgelatinous to membranous consistency, recalling the 

 condition seen in many of theCranchiidEe; mantle opening extremely broad and full, extending upward 

 on either side to a point above and slightly past the center of each eye. 



Head short, broad, greatly compressed above and below, well defined from tlie body. Eyes very 

 large, dark in color, rounded and prominent; sessile, the lens much protruding. Funnel broad, tliin 

 walled, not extending past the eyes or quite to the base of the umbrella. Funnel organ comprising a 

 flattened /\ -shaped pad, or rather two diverging ovate pads connected in front by a transverse median 

 pad, the anterior point of which is free and flap-like, to a cursory glance having very mucJi the appearance 

 of a valve; the whole apparatus is very loosely adherent to the dorsal wall of the funnel, and in the type 

 becameentirely detached while the specimen was being examined. (It is shown in situ inpl.xxxin, 



fig- 4) 



Arms of moderate length, rather stout at the base, but their tips slender; decidedly unequal, the 

 third pair much the largest and longest, the others nearly of a length, their order 3, 2,4, i. Umbrella 

 present, but thin and delicate widest between the second and third, and third and fourth arms, but 

 extending between all for about a tliird the length of each. Suckers in a single row on all the arms, 

 large (especially those of the tliird pair), much elevated, urceolate, and constricted below the aperture, 



o Since the above was put in type Chun has published a further paper in which he reinstates Eledonella and differentiates 

 it from Bolilxna on anatomical grounds. A new family, Bohtienidae Chun 1911, is erected for the reception of both genera. 



