MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 121 



Octopus bimaculatus Verrill, sp. nov. 



Plate V. Figs. 1, 1 a. Plate VI. 



Size moderate, body relatively large, elongated pyriform, enlarged poste- 

 riorly, somewliat depressed iu alcoholic specimens. Upper surface everywhere 

 covered with prominent, unequal, raised warts, usually conspicuous in pre- 

 served specimens, except in those which are unusually flaccid, in which they 

 sometimes become low, rounded, or flattened, but do not entirely disappear. 

 On the ventral surface the warts are much smaller and loss conspicuous. Head 

 large, not so broad as the body, from which it is separated by a slight constric- 

 tion ; sides of the head about the eyes promineu^t. Eyes large. Upper sur- 

 face and sides of the head conspicuously warted like the l>ody, or more coarsely 

 than the body ; above and a little behind the eyes there is one large, conical, 

 warted cirrus ; in front and around this, above the eye, there are numerous 

 large, prominent warts, some of them larger than those on the general surface. 

 Arms rather long, moderately stout, united at the base for a considerable dis- 

 tance by a strong thick wel), the upper surface of which is strongly warted, like 

 the head and body. The web is much more extensive between the dorsal arms 

 than between the ventral ones, usually broadest between the second and third 

 pairs. The lower surface of the Aveb and the sides and ventral surface of the 

 arms are covered with very numerous, crowded, minute, conical or granule-like 

 warts, which often appear to be arranged in small patches or clusters separated 

 by smoother, paler, reticulated lines or wrinkles: Arms unequal, the dorsal 

 pair considerably smaller and shorter than the others. The second and third 

 pairs are very nearly equal in size and length. The fourth pair is a little 

 smaller and shorter, Vait considerably longer than the dorsal pair. The arms 

 are rounded trapezoidal toward the base, with the sucker-bearing face broad 

 and the dorsal surface well roimded ; the membrane along the sides of the arms 

 in continuation of the web is usually narrow and inconspicuous, and can often 

 be traced oidy for a short distance. The suckers toward the bases of the arms 

 are large, broad, saucer-shaped, w^ith strong radiating grooves, about thirty in 

 uuml^er, and with a large and deep central pit. Margin much expanded, with 

 two borders, the outer one soft and finely crennlated, the inner one divided 

 into lobes by radiating grooves. In some males examined, one sucker within 

 the border of the web is A-er}^ much larger than any of the others on the second 

 and third pairs of arms. This enlarged sucker is the twelfth from the base, 

 and in the posterior row on each arm. One male of large size has the cor- 

 responding sucker only a little larger than the adjacent ones, but the two pairs 

 of lateral arms in the males jjave ten or twelve suckers (from about the tenth 

 to the twentieth suckers) mostly within and near tlie edge of the web de- 

 cidedly larger than the corresponding ones on the d(n'sal and ventral arms. 

 Beyond the edge of the web the suckers rapidly diminish in size, and on the 

 distal half become relatively small, and gradually decrease to the very small 

 ones which cover the attenuated tips. The large suckers toward the base oi 



