350 Bulletin Vanderbilt Marine Museum, Vol. VII 



tion of this species appear to establish it from the northeastern 

 Atlantic, from west Africa, Sierra Leone, the Canary Islands, the 

 Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, East and South Africa, the Indian 

 Seas, Malaysia, northward to China and Japan, and eastward to 

 Hawaii and southward to Australia. Some records of it from the 

 western Atlantic have been made but the present writer's familiar- 

 ity with this faunal region convinces one that such records for 

 O. rugosus are open to suspicion and likely to be proven to be 0. 

 vulgaris. Similarly Dr. Hoyle's record (1904) of rugosus from 

 Galapagos, as occidentalis, is probably referable to O. bimaculatus 

 Verrill, well known to the writer, from San Diego, California, to 

 Panama, also in the Galapagos Archipelago. 



Material examined : An extensive series, ranging from speci- 

 mens with an umbrella of less than one inch, to one with a diameter 

 of over seven feet, was taken by the "Alva," as follows : Cat. No. 

 830, one large specimen, with head cut off, Anaho Bay, Nuka Hiva 

 Island, Marquesas Islands; Cat. No. 831, another complete speci- 

 men, from the same locality ; Cat. No. 832, one very large specimen, 

 from the same locality ; Cat. No. 833, one specimen, from the same 

 locality ; Cat. No. 834, one specimen, from Venus Point Reef, Ta- 

 hiti, Society Islands, August 15, 1931 ; Cat. No. 837, a young speci- 

 men, from Venus Point Reef ; Cat. No. 835, one young specimen, 

 from Teviatoa Reef, Raiatea Island, Society Islands, August 21, 

 1931 ; Cat. No. 836, another young specimen, from Raiatea Island; 

 Cat. No. 843, from the same locality ; Cat. No. 838, one specimen, 

 from Seba-Seba Bay, Durian Straits, Dutch East Indies, October, 

 1931 ; Cat. No. 839, one fairly large specimen, from Southport, 

 Queensland, Australia, November, 1931. 



Life history : This species has not been bred in captivity nor 

 critically studied at seaside laboratories, so far as published 

 records are available. It is believed to be the species known to 

 have deposited its eggs inside the shells of empty pearl oysters 

 and of another mollusk, Mytilus species, in the Gulf of Manaar 

 (W. E. Hoyle). Octopus rugosus is a shallow- water species, 

 making its den in the crevices of coral reefs and among rocks. 



Technical description: The specimen, dead and consider- 

 ably shrunken, has a web diameter of 7.11 inches, measured from 

 tip to tip of opposite arms. The body is of the usual saccular type, 

 being a little more than one-fourth longer than wide. The head is 

 slightly narrower than the body ; the eyes are moderately promi- 



