BY JAMES C. COX ; M.D., F.L.S., ETC. 781 



b. Body smooth, bearded. 



c. Body minutely granular. 



d. Body granular, rough. 



2. The cups of the dorsal pair of arms largest. 



3. The seventh to the twentieth cups of the lateral (second and 



third) pairs of arms much larger than the rest. 



4. Doubtful and apocryphal species. 



Note. — The dorsal arms are considered the first pair, the 

 laterals the second and third pairs, and the ventrals the fourth 

 pair ; they are numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. 



Cups in triple series. 



1. Cups of the arms sub-equal, regular. 



A. The lower cups far apart, in a single series. 

 a. Body smooth, not bearded. 

 Arms 3, 2, 4,1. 



Tritaxcopus comutus, Owen, T.Z.S., London, Part 5, Vol. xi., p. 

 131, pi. 23. 



Body oval, warty, ' ' beset with scattered wart-like prominences 

 chiefly on the dorsal aspect : and, of these, four or five of the 

 largest affect a longitudinal disposition. The length of the third 

 arm of the specimen, (a female) figured, is one foot eleven inches, 

 that of the first being one foot two inches ; the second arm is but 

 a little longer than the fourth ; the whole graduating in the 

 special manner seen in Octopus vulgaris, of Lamarck fO. octopodia 

 of Linneeus). The webs uniting the arms from the base to the 

 middle of the free margin, is two and a,-half inches between the 

 second and third arms, and one and a-half inch between the first 

 and second arms." 



"The colour of the Tritaxcopus when undisturbed is a dullish 

 pink, reflecting from parts of the "crown" a subviolate tint, 

 but when irritated and alarmed it rapidly assumes tints varying 

 from bluish-red to deep violet." 



