4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Jan., 



enumerated above should be sufficient to prevent a further confusion 

 of the species. 



Miss A. L. Massy has suggested in correspondence that M. chal- 

 lengeri may be identical with the M. charcoti Joubin of the Antarctic, 

 but in the absence of better evidence than that afforded by the 

 literature I am unable to arrive at the same conclusion.^ 



The remaining Pacific record of verrucosa (Hoyle, 1904, p. 21) is 

 admitted as doubtful by Hoyle because of the inadequate preserva- 

 tion of his material, so I am sure can on a priori grounds be rejected 

 without hesitation. Quite possibly the specimens represent an un- 

 described species. In any case M. verrucosa must now be eliminated 

 from our lists of the Pacific fauna. 



Omitting from consideration the Antarctic members of the genus, 

 several of which possess stellate tubercles somewhat resembling 

 those of the species described, we arrive at the following summary of 

 this group of Moschites as it has appeared in the literature to date: 



1. Moschites verrucosa (Verrill, 1881). PI. I. 



1881. Eh-done verrucosa Verrill, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., v. 8, p. 105, 

 pis. o, 6. 



1881a. Eledonc verrucosa Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., v. .5, p. 380, 

 pl.-^. 52, 5.3. 



1882. Eledone verrucosa Verrill. Rep. U. S. Fish Com. 1879, pp. 393, 435 

 [183, 225], pi. 44, figs. 3, 3a. 



1884. Eledone verrucosa Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., v. 6, p. 248. 



466-1,255 fathoms, New England region {Blake, Fish Hawk, 

 Albatross). 



2. Moschites challengeri Berry, 1916. PI. II. 



1886. Eledone verrucosa Hoyle, Challenger Rep., p. 104 {not of Verrill, 

 1881). 



1915. Eledone verrucosa Oliver, Trans. N. Z. Inst., v. 47, p. 559 (merely 

 noted). 



1916. Moschites challengeri Berry, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., v. 68, p. 49. 



630 fathoms, off the Kermadec Islands (Challenger). 



3. Moschites (species ?). 



1904. Moschites verrucosa Hovle, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., v. 43, p. 21 

 (not of Verrill, 1881). 



1,020 fathoms. Gulf of Panama (Albatross) . 



The foregoing history well illustrates how much more apt to lead 

 to erroneous theories of distribution and how much more difficult 

 finally to rectify, is the improper union of species than, if we have 



^ As this paper is in final proof I am informed that Miss Massy has just pub- 

 lished some fuither observations on this group in her report on the Cephalopoda 

 of the "Terra Nova" Expedition, though the paper itself has been delayed in 

 reaching me. It was in deference to this that consideration of the Antarctic 

 forms was omitted from the present paper 



