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FESTSKRIFT FÖR EILLJEBORG 



S irula reticulata in the literature. Of the two other species 3 complete specimens 

 have been found and recorded, namely of Spirula peronii Lamarck i <? and of 5. 

 australis Lamarck 2 c and 1 3 plus one <. which however was aberrant from the 

 others 1 . To this list of complete specimens of Spirula we are fortunate enough to 

 be able to add one, the first almost perfect Spirula reticulata Owen. This specimen 

 was presented to the Zoological Museum of the R. University at Upsala by the late 

 I ptain Conrad Eckman whose early death, involving a great loss for the Zoological 

 Institution, we deeply deplore. Captain Eckman found this beautiful specimen float- 

 ing on the surface of the sea, not far from Madeira, lat. 43° 30' N, long. 16" o' W, 

 .md caught it with a dip-net. It was preserved 4 days in formol and afterwards kept 

 in alcohol. The mantle is externally, on its dorsal and ventral faces, deprived of its 

 skin, and the left tentacle is broken, otherwise the specimen is perfect. With the 

 help of this specimen we are able to give some figures of Spirula reticulata Owen 

 and an external description, in the hope they may be welcome as this is the first 

 complete specimen of its kind known. 



The animal is not very contracted; the head is not at all retracted into the 

 pallia] cavity, and the funnel is conspicuous. The head and aboral parts of the arms 

 are strongly coloured with closely set, brownish red chromatophores. The distal 

 part of the remaining tentacle is also pigmented, but not so densely, and therefore it 

 looks pale, its proximal part is provided with hardly any chromatophores at all, and 

 "ii thf oral side there are none. The visible part of the funnel is pigmented, except 

 round the aperture. The proximal margin of the mantle and its three upper lobes 

 (the dorsal, and the two ventral ones on each side of the funnel) as well as the in- 

 id' of the mantle are provided with chromatophores of the same colour as the 

 head, but on the other part of the mantle these have probably been lost, as a creamy 

 colour prevails all over the mantle up to the "terminal disk". This is very strongly 

 pigmented, but has a circular lighter space around the "aboral fossa" the lips of 

 which themselves are not coloured at all. The fins have only chromatophores at 

 their bases, but are otherwise cream-coloured without pigment. 



The distance from the tip of the dorsal lobe of the mantle to the aboral 

 end of the body is about 21 mm. The width of the mantle is about 52 °/o of this 

 measurement. We find nearly the same ratio between the length and width of the 

 mantle in Spirula peronii, according to Huxley's figure in the Challenger-report'. 

 But in the male of Spirula australis the width of the mantle is only 36 ° <> of the 



1 Ii - 'lit in the West Indian Seas by tlw Blake expedition 1878- 79 and is probably ;i 



for a 1 cies which may provisionally be called Spirula blakei; for a diagnosis see below. 



PI. 1. Fig. 3. 



