PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Jan., 



ON MOSCHITES VERRUCOSA (Verrill) AND ITS ALLIES. 



BY S. STILLMAN BERRY. 



Striking instances of anomalous distribution of Cephalopoda are 

 not frequently encountered during a perusal of the literature, espe- 

 cially among the less active, bottom-loving forms, most of which, 

 so far as known, are prone to inhabit each its own definitely circum- 

 scribed district or faunal area. It therefore becomes of especial 

 nnportance to subject such apparent exceptions as we do find to the 

 most careful scrutiny, to ascertain whether they really exist, and 

 then, if they seem so to do, to discover a reason. One of the most 

 interesting and frequently quoted cases of this sort is that of Verrill's 

 Moschites [ = Eledone] verrucosa, originally described from 466-810 

 fathoms, off the coast of southern New England, again reported from 

 considerably deeper water off Delaware Bay, and since recorded from 

 630 fathoms off the Kermadec Islands, and from 1,020 fathoms in 

 the Gulf of Panama by Hoyle (1886, 1904). 



So far as we know now, the Atlantic records for verrucosa are 

 unimpeachable, and in any case they fail to offer such zoogeographic 

 peculiarities that they need concern us here. That the case with 

 the Pacific citations is altogether otherwise, it is the aim of the 

 present paper to show. 



The first of these is based upon a single male specimen taken by 

 the Challenger ExpecUtion in 1874, reported upon by Hoyle in 1886, 

 and now preserved in the British Museum (Natural History) at 

 South Kensington. Though Hoyle's remarks are brief (1886, 

 p. 104), they show that he fully appreciated not only the specimen, 

 but the peculiar interest which his identification gave to it. He 

 wrote under " Eledone verrucosa" as follows: 



"The agreement between the Challenger specimen and the 

 admirable drawings and description of Professor Verrill is so close 

 that there can be no doubt as to the correctness of this identification. 

 The only differences appear to be that in the American specimens 

 the cirri round and al)ove the eyes are a little more prominent than 

 in that from the Pacific, while the latter has the extremity of the 

 hectocotylized arm formed like that of an Octopus rather than like 

 that of an Eledone, as shown in Verrill's figure. The Challenger 



