MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 119 



the lower surfaces ami on the inside of the arms ami web. The color varies 

 much, as in all other cephalopods, according to the mode of preservation, 

 strength of the alcohol, etc. In the best ])reserve(l specimens tliere are irregu- 

 lar, ill-detinecl blotches and spots of darker purplish brown, often longitudinal 

 in direction, scatteretl over the upper surfaces of the body, head, and web, and 

 on the sides of the body, bem^ath. Between these blotches the surface is- rather 

 thickly sprinkled with small, dark brown chromatophores. 



In life, tile color seems to lie very changeable. Mr. A. Agassiz has sent 

 me two colored drawings made by him in 1859, from a living specimen taken 

 in the Gulf of Georgia, W. T., and kept in confinement. In one of these draw- 

 ings the color of the dorsal surface of the body, which is rejm'scnled as iicarly 

 smootli, is purplish red, niolllcd and streaked with dark brown and witli a 

 longitudinal Ijand of brown along the sides, running back IVom tlie eyes; the 

 upper and front sides of tlie wcb and arms are dull pnrjilish red, irregularly 

 jnottled with dark brown ; the bases of the ventral arms, with tlie web between 

 them, and the lower surfaces of the head, have a lighter orange tint. In the 

 other drawing (a side view) the whole surl'ace of the body and head is repre- 

 sented as covered with large and prominent, irregularly Avavy folds and ridges, 

 separated by deep wrinkles ; the folds are larger posteriorly, but project as 

 irregular warts, both on the back and on the ventral surfaces. Tlie colors of 

 the body and head, in this figure, are dark and rather bright ; the upper parts 

 are mottled and streaked with lake-red, dull orange, dark brown, and grayish 

 green, the dark brown and red tints predominating ; the lower surfaces are 

 lighter, but similarly mottled, with the orange and lake-red tints most con- 

 spicuous ; the siphon and edges of the gill-opening are orange-yellow, the 

 latter bordered with dark brown ; eyelids brownish red ; eyes silvery. 



According to the drawings referred to, the body, in life, is swollen and pyri- 

 form or ovate, much broader and thicker than the head. In one of the figures 

 there appears to be a membranous ibid running along the sides and forming a 

 posterior prominence at the end of the body ; in this figure the membranous 

 folds along the sides of the arms are represented as much wider and extending 

 nearer to the ends than in the preserved specimens. 



Mr. AVilliam H. Dall, who has observed this species in life, furnishes the 

 following notes on its habits : " When angry the horn over the eye is erected, 

 the arms coil together, the eye dilates, and the body r^uivers with rage. The 

 muscles keep up a squirming motion, but I have never seen any approach to 

 the dark color figured by Chenu as characteristic of the angry Octopus vuhjaris 

 of the Mediterranean, nor any such elevated longitudinal ridges. The suckers 

 project or are retracted according to the mood of the animal ; their outer edge 

 expands when about to seize hold, and contracts after getting hold of anything. 

 In very large individuals the extremities of the arms are long and much attenu- 

 ated. I suppose they can adjust their shape to their (quarters, but when in 

 motion the body is round and always on tnp and the oral disk is invisible. It 

 never willingly turns its mouth up, and when forced to do so i-linches its arms, 

 like a fist, over it. With death comes flaccidity and fiatteiiing. One with a 



