Description of Opisthoteuthis depressa n. sp 



By 

 I. Ijima, Plh D., Higakuliakushi, 



and 



S. Ikeda. 



^Vith Plate XXXIII. 



During May last, a small octopod, apparently l)el()nging to the 

 rare and very peculiarly sha])ed genus, Opisthoteutlrix, was brought 

 to us by our collect<3r, a Misaki üsherman, who obt;iined it on the 

 southern side of Okinose,'^ about sixteen kilometres west of Cape 

 Sunosaki. It had taken one of the hooks, baited with shark-flesh, of 

 a long line for deep-sea fishing, at a dej>th of about 250 fathoms. 

 This localitv is one of tliose in or about Sagami l^ay, that seem to be 

 teeming with zoological novelties. It is a rich Hexactinellid ground, 

 and of the numerous interesting objects which it has recently yielded 

 to us, might here be mentioned a living ]']euwtoiiinriii llei/nclii, 

 likewise hooked up liy a, snood of a long line. 



The genus (JpistJiotciitJiis was instituted in 1.S.S8 by Verrill"-' to 

 receive a West Indian species, named O. Aijdsxizii by the same a,uth.,r. 

 So far as we can ascertain no second species has since been added to 

 the genus. In proposing then, the name of 0. depressa for our 

 Okinose specimen, which ditfers in many important points from 

 Yerrill's species, we consider it unlikely that we are adding but an 

 unnecessary sync)nym t(j the literature of Cephalopods. 



1) A submarine bank situated about 18 kilometres south of Misaki. 



2) " Supplementary Report on the ' Blake,' Cephalopods." Bull, Mus. Comp. Zool., Vol. XI. 

 Also, " Mollusca of the New England Coast." Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. VI. 



