BY JAMES C. COX, M.D., F.L.S., ETC. 783 



observed, it appears of a brownish purple, while on land or in 

 shallow water it is of a yellowish-green ; but when examined 

 more carefully — " French grey, with numerous spots of bright 

 yellow, the former varying in intensity, the latter appearing and 

 disappearing by turns. These changes were effected in such a 

 manner, that clouds, varying in tint between a hyacinth-red and 

 a chestnut brown, were continually passing over the body." — 

 Darwin . 



The frequent loss of arms endured by the Octopus is compen- 

 sated by the power in the highest degree it possesses of repro- 

 ducing mutilated members. 



.Hab. African, European and American Coasts of the Atlantic 

 Ocean ; Mediterranean and Eed Sea, Indian and Pacific Oceans. 



Sepia octopodia, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., Tom i., Pars ii., 1767. 



Octopus n<Zyflm,Laruarck, Mem. de la Soc. d'Hist. Nat. de Paris 

 1799, and Hist. Nat. des An. sans. Vert. Vol. 7, p. 654, 1822. 

 Ferussac and D'Orbigny, Hist. Nat. des Cephalopodes 

 acetabulaferes, 1833 to 1848, p. 26, pis. 2, 3, 3bis, 8, 11, 12, 

 13, 14, 15, and 29. J. E. Gray, Catalogue of Cephalopoda 

 in the British Museum, 1849, p. 6. 



Octopus octopodia, G. W. Try on, Junr., Manual of Conch ology, 

 Philadelphia, 1879, Vol. i., p. 11 3, pi. 23, figs. 3 and 4; and 

 pi. 24, figs. 5, 6, and 7. 



In this harbour (Port Jackson) a large species of Octopod 

 exists in considerable numbers, and so closely resembling the 

 0. octopodia (vulgaris of Lamarck) in every feature that I am 

 unable to point out any distinction. It also resembles the draw- 

 ing in the Transactions of the Zoological Society of the Tritaxeopus 

 comutus, with the exception of the three rows of acetabula. In 

 order, however, to ascertain whether any salient distinctive 

 characteristic exists in the animal under consideration, as its 



