126 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 234 



of arm I, the second to the ventral surface of arm I and the dorsal 

 side of arm II, the third to the ventral side of arm III, and the fom-th 

 to the dorsal side of arm IV. 



The photophores are very numerous on the ventral surface of the 

 mantle, head, and ventral arms. They are spaced about a photo- 

 phore length apart, but become slightly more scattered laterally and 

 very sparse dorsaUy. On the arms the photophores have been mostly 

 rubbed off so that their order cannot be ascertained. The three 

 upper pairs in places have light organs. Pfeffer (1912, p. 295) 

 stated that this species has one dorsal row and two ventral rows on 

 I and II. Arms III have two dorsal and two ventral. Pfeffer 

 stated that the ventral arms have eight rows, but this is true only of 

 the proximal fourth of the arm, the rows rapidly decreasing until 

 there are only about four rows on the distal fourth of the arm. At 

 the base of the arms the exact number of rows is difficult to determine 

 and may be eight or nine. 



Measurements and indices of a female specimen of Calliteuthis 

 meleagroteuthis Chun from Sta. D5444: 



Type. — Hamburg Museum (no longer extant). 



Type locality. — Fonseca Bay, west coast of Honduras, Central 

 America. 



Discussion. — The specimen at hand is undoubtedly conspecific 

 with Meleagroteuthis hoylei Pfeffer, 1900, from the west coast of 

 Central America. I have compared it with specimens from the At- 

 lantic in the Dana collections and find no differences. These latter 

 specimens have been identified by Joubin. Pfeffer was incorrect in 

 stating that there are 30 tubercles in the cartilaginous row on the 

 mantle. Actually in both the present specimen and those from the 

 Atlantic there are 17 to 20; hence, this character should be expanded 

 for this species to read "17 to 30 tubercles in the median mantle 

 row." 



The problem of the nomenclature of the histioteuthids is formidable 

 as has been stated by numerous authors (Chun, 1910; Pfeffer, 1912; 

 Joubin, 1924; Dell, 1952; Voss, 1956). In 1900, Pfeffer split the 

 genus Calliteuthis into three: Calliteuthis, Stigmatoteuthis and Melea- 



