which is to say, a worse confusion of what was 

 already a vague idea. The word "hectocotylized," 

 traced to its root, has little sense and less meaning 

 when applied to the reproductory appendage of 

 the squid: freely translated it indicates merely 

 "a hundred cells." I long remained in ignorance of 

 its justification until at last I found its explana- 

 tion buried in an old book. It appears that orig- 

 inally this word came into use in reference to the 

 condition assumed by the arm in those instances in 

 which its modification was carried out more com- 

 pletely — such as in the case of certain argonauts. 

 In that case the third left arm of the male, during 

 the breeding season, is represented by a sac. This 

 sac bursts and from it extends an arm terminated 

 by another sac from which subsequently extrudes 

 a long filament later to become charged with sperm 

 packets, or spermatophores, removed from the ori- 

 fice of the generative duct opening within the 

 mantle cavity. During copulation the filament-arm 

 becomes detached at the tip and is left adhering 

 within the mantle cavity of the female by its 

 suckers. When specimens of females were first 

 found with these detached adhering arms, the arm 

 was mistaken for a parasite and named Hectoco- 



[334] 



