Boone, Mollusca, Cruises of "Eagle" and "Ara," 1921-28 193 



Octopus (Octopus) vulgaris Lamarck. 

 Plate 121. 



Type: Lamarck's type was deposited in the Paris Museum. 



Distribution : This species has practically a circumtropic distribu- 

 tion, having been reliably recorded in European and adjacent waters 

 from Heligoland in the North Sea southward to through the Mediter- 

 ranean and Aegean Seas ; it is also found on the English coast, north- 

 west Ireland, Mauritania and the Azores. It is also found on the 

 West African coast down to South Africa. In American waters it is 

 known on the East Coast from Cape Hatteras, N. C, southward 

 through the West Indies to Bahia, Brazil. On the West Coast of 

 America it is known from the Gulf of California at Angel de la 

 Guardia and San Jose Island, also from the Bay of Panama. In Asian 

 waters it has been reliably recorded from Japan. It was reported in 

 1840 by D'Orbigny from Mauritius, India and Timor in the Indo- 

 Pacific. Robson (1929) calls attention to the fact that in recent years 

 reports of the Indo-Malaysian, Indian Ocean and South African re- 

 gions do not record 0. vulgaris. The present writer has re-examined 

 specimens recorded (Boone, 1928) from Double Headed Shot Cay and 

 at Swan Island, Caribbean Sea, also those cited above from Lower 

 California, in critical comparison with true 0. rugosus from both 

 regions and with careful regard for Robson 's masterly diagnoses 

 (1929) of the two species and finds that her original classification of 

 these as 0. vulgaris is valid. 



Material examined: One specimen, Bimini, Bahamas Islands, 

 March, 1924. One taken at Miami, Florida. The cut-off arm of a 

 specimen which resisted capture and attacked one of the sailors on 

 the schooner "Sonia" while the boat was crossing from Bimini to 

 Miami Beach, Florida. This specimen was probably between seven 

 and eight feet umbrella diameter. The naturalist of the "Sonia," 

 Mr. L. L. Mowbray, reported that the octopus was basking in the sun- 

 light close to the surface, as if asleep, when first sighted. A mother 

 octopus, with umbrella diameter of about 10 inches, and her brood of 

 522 young, seven of which are not fully escaped from the egg-capsule ; 

 taken from loggerhead sponge, Knight's Key, Florida, dredging 2 

 fms., March 6, 1925. Two young, Le Mole, Carenge Bay, Haiti, 

 February 5, 1924. One very minute young, taken in 34 fms., off 

 Fowey Rock Light, Florida, April 26, 1922. One large specimen, 

 Bimini, British West Indies. Another large specimen, Miami, Flor- 



