198 Bulletin, Vanderbilt Marine Museum, Vol. IV 



conspicuous, big, circular spots of deep brownish black. The lower 

 surface of the web and arms is brownish, with strong orange tones. 



Remarks: This octopus, which is considered a great table delicacy 

 in the Mediterranean countries, is very powerful, having been known 

 to jump out of the water for a distance of ten feet, also to pump a 

 stream of water one foot high from its funnel. This species has a 

 strong, musk-like odor, which persists even after death. Algerian 

 women of the tribe M'talassa are said to anoint their hair with the 

 inky liquid of this octopus, because of its musk-like odor. 



This is one of the oldest known species of octopus, having been re- 

 corded by Aristotle, Pliny, Belon, Rondelet and other naturalists of 

 early times. 



Technical description: Consult Jatta, 1896, p. 239; also Naef, 

 1923, p. 717. 



The body is elongate-ovoid, smooth or finely granulate, as desired 

 by the octopus, the anterior margin of the mantle is free from a point 

 immediately in line with and behind the upper margin of the orbit, 

 across the ventral surface to that of the opposite orbit, thus creating 

 a large aperture. The funnel is well developed, about as long as the 

 head. The head is narrower than the body, rounded; the eye large. 

 The web between the arms is of moderate depth, increasing in depth 

 but very slightly from ventral to dorsal; the length from the post- 

 orbital angle to the margin of the web is almost equal to the length 

 of the body or is equal to about two-fifths of the length of the free 

 portion of the arms. The arms are very long, slender, graceful, ta- 

 pered, three and one-half to four times as long as the body, slightly 

 decreasing in length from dorsal to ventral, in the order 1, 2, 3, 4. 

 The suckers are in a single row, the large ones proximally situated. 



For discussion of the minute differences between this and the closely 

 similar Mediterranean form, E. aldrovandi (Delle Chiaje), consult 

 Jatta. 



References: Octopus moschatus Lamarck, Mem. d'Hist. Nat. Paris, 

 tome I, p. 22, 1799. 



Eledone moschatus Leach, Zool. Misc., vol. Ill, p. 138, 1817. — Jatta, 

 Fauna u. Flora Neapel, Mon. 23, p. 239, tav. 3, fig. 14 ; tav. 7, figs. 

 3 e 5 ; tav. 26, figs. 4-13 ; tav. 27, figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 e 11, 1896.— 

 Naef, ibid, Mon. 35, p. 716, Bd. I, text figs. 426-430, 1923. 



