MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 119 



the lower surfaces and on tlie inside of the arms and web. The color varies 

 much, as in all otiier ceplialopods, accordini^- to the mode of preservation, 

 strength of the alcohol, etc. In the best ])i'eserved specimens there are ii'refu- 

 lar, ill-defined blotches and spots of darker pn]-[)lish brown, often longitudinal 

 in direction, scattered over the upper surfaces of the body, head, and web, and 

 on the sides of the body, beneath. Between these blotches the surlace is rather 

 thickly sprinkled with small, dark brown chromatophores. 



In life, the color seems to l)e very changeable. Mr. A. Agassiz has sent 

 me two colored drawings made l)y him iu 1859, from a living specimen taken 

 in the Gulf of Georgia, W. T., and kejit iu continemciit. In one of these draw- 

 ings the color of the dorsal surface of the body, which is represented as nearly 

 smooth, is purplish red, mottled and streaked with dark brown and with a 

 longitudinal band of brown along the sides, running l)ack from the eyes; the 

 upper and front sides of the web and arms are dull ])ur}ilish red, irregularly 

 mottled with dark brown ; the bases (jf the ventral arms, with the wel) lietween 

 them, and the lower surfaces of the head, have a lighter orange tint. In the 

 other drawing (a side view) the whole surface of the body and head is repre- 

 sented as covered with large and ju'omiuent, irregularly wavy folds ami lidges, 

 separated by deep wrinkles ; the folds are larger posteriorly, ))ut prdject as 

 irregular warts, lioth on the back and on the ventral surfaces. The colors of 

 the body and head, in this figure, are dark ;ind rather bright ; the upper parts 

 are mottled and streaked with lake-red, dull orange, dark brown, and grayish 

 green, the dark Inviwu a)iil red tints predominating ; the lower surfaces are 

 lighter, hut similarly nrnttled, with the orange and lake-red tints most con- 

 spicuous ; the siphon and edges of the gill-opening are orange-j'ellow, the 

 latter bordered with dark brown ; eyelids brownish red ; eyes silvery. 



According to the drawings referred to, the body, in life, is swollen and pyri- 

 form or ovate, nmch broader and thicker than the head. In one of tlie figures 

 there appears to be a membranous ibid running along the sides and forming a 

 posterior prominence at the end of the body ; in this figure the membranous 

 folds along the sides of the arms are represented as much wider and extending 

 nearer to the ends than iu the preserved specimens. 



Mr. William H. Dall, who has dbserved this species in life, furnishes the 

 following notes on its habits : "AVhen angry the horn over the eye is erected, 

 the arms coil together, the eye dilat(;s, and the body quivers with rage. The 

 muscles keep up a .squirming motion, but I have never seen any approach to 

 the <lark color figured by Cheiui as characteristic of the angry Octopus vulfjaris 

 of the i\Iediterranean, nor any such elevated longitudinal ridges. The suckers 

 project or are retracted according to the mood of the animal ; their outer edge 

 expands when about to seize hold, and contracts after getting hold of anything. 

 In very large individuals the extremities of the arms are long and much attenu- 

 ated. I suppose they can adjust their shape to their ([uarters, but when in 

 motion the body is round and always on fop and the oral disk is invisible. It 

 never willingly turns its mouth u]>, and when forced to do so clinches its arms, 

 like a fist, over it. "With death comes flaccidity and Ihitleuing. One with a 



