171 



specimen from which the species is described is comparative small. 

 Dr. W. 0. Ayres told me that he had seen them several feet in 

 length, and spoke of one in wliich the arms were over seven feet 

 long. 



It appears to approach most nearly to 0. megalocyatlius Couth- 

 Guy, (Gould, Mollusca of Wilkes' Expedition, p. 471) but differs 

 in the absence of the lateral membrane, the size of the mouth, the 

 size of the cupules and the general coloration. There may be 

 other differences, but I have not had an opportunity of examining 

 the figures of Couthouy's species. 



Onyclioteuthis fusiformis. — Body slender, fusiform, prolonged 

 and sharply acuminate posteriorly, truncated sinuously above, hav- 

 ing a slight projection in the median dorsal region, and being 

 equally emarginate on the ventral side. Head small, narrower 

 than the body, subquadrate ; eyes moderate and prominent, lachry- 

 ma^l sinus large. Sessile arms, not half so long as the body, nearly 

 of the same size ; formula of relative size, counting from the dorsal 

 side, 1, 2, 4, 3, the second and last, being almost exactly of the 

 same length, the dorsal the smallest. The dorsal arms are con- 

 nected at their base by a minute membrane, which does not run up 

 their sides ; the second and third arms, and the tentacles have this 

 membrane on one side, running to the extreme tips ; the ventral 

 and the adjoining arms are united by a larger membrane, but like 

 the dorsal, the ventral arms are unprovided with it beyond the base, • 

 and are not united to each other ; the tips are laterally com- 

 pressed. The cupules on the sessile arms are strongly constricted 

 at their base., and are pedunculated ; they are arranged in a double 

 series, without being either m pairs, nor yet alternating. They 

 commence a short distance from the base of the arms, and are con- 

 tinued to the extreme tips, becoming smaller and scattered as they 

 approach the end. Tentacles, nearly two-thirds the length of the 

 body, exclusive of the head, the club forming about one-third of the 

 whole ; the club is httle if at all widened ; tentacle naked to the 

 base of the club, where the " sucker " is placed, consisting of a 

 small, irregularly rounded disc, bearing eight or nme sessile cupules. 

 Beyond, as far as the extreme tip, are large and small, strongly 

 hooked claws, arranged in an irregular line, and each one pierced near 

 the base, and above grooved for half its length on the concave side. 

 Mouth small, surrounded by a thin, simple lip, and outside of that, 

 by a seven-lobed fold of skin, two lobes of which are placed opposite 

 the base of the ventral arms — one opposite the space between the 

 dorsals, and the other four opposite the laterals. Mandibles black. 

 Siphon small, hardly projecting beyond the mantle. Fms dorsal. 



