THE NAUTILUS. AB 



described species, and cannot be referred to one, even taking into 

 account the high altitude and the nature of the locality. It some- 

 what resembles some high forms of P. scutellatum St., but is less 

 oblique, has broader beaks, and the surface strife are coarser. The 

 short, pointed inner lateral cusps of the right valve are notable. The 

 nine specimens in the lot are remarkably uniform, two of them 

 somewhat over half grown, the others apparently mature. The one 

 opened for examining the hinge contained no visible embryos. The 

 types are in the U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 187491. 



NOTES. 



A Giant Squid. — I received a letter to-day (April 2, 1909) from 

 Provincetown which contains an item I think should go on record. 

 It is as follows: 



" The schooner ' Annie Perry ' found a giant squid off Highland 

 Light, Truro, Mass., last week and tried to hoist it on board the 

 vessel, but the rope cut the body in half. It was perfectly fresh, and 

 the crew took some of it for bait and caught quite a number of fish. 

 I saw one of the tentacles which they brought ashore, and it was per- 

 fectly fresh then. It was seven feet six inches long, and the suckers 

 were as large as a silver quarter. A piece of the body was, I should 

 think, four inches in thickness and the tentacles must have been four 

 inches in diameter at the larger end." 



The above must be the first record of the giant squid on our coast^ 

 although they must exist off shore in deeper water. I have written 

 to see if I can secure the beaks or any part to aid in its identification. 



(April 16, 1909.) I have received a little more information in 

 regard to the giant squid taken off Highland Light, Truro. A letter 

 to-day says: 



" The captain of the vessel who took the squid says it was a very 

 little larger than their dory, w-hich is 16 or 17 feet in length. The 

 tentacle which they brought ashore was 1^ feet long and had ' sucker 

 cups ' the whole length of it." [This would show it was one of the 

 shorter tentacles.] " The whole animal was shaped like the common 

 squid, that is, the body was not globular like the cuttlefish, but had 

 fins or flippers on the tail just like the common squid. The piece 

 which I wrote about was cut out of the side, and about four inches 

 thick, and the whole body was about as large around (circumference) 



