PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 361 



greatly modified and very different from its mate. Lateral and ventral 

 arms siibequal. In both sexes, and even in the young, tlie suckers along 

 the middle of the four lateral and two ventral arms are distinctly larger 

 than the rest, but in the larger males this disparity becomes very re- 

 markable, the middle suckers becoming greatly enlarged and swollen, 

 so that eight to ten of the largest are often six or eight times as broad 

 as the proximal and distal ones ; they are deep, laterally attached, with 

 a raised band around the middle and a very small, round aperture, fur- 

 nished with a smooth rim. In the female the corresponding suckers are 

 about twice as broad as the rest on the lateral arms. The suckers are 

 in two regular rows on the lateral and ventral arms, in both sexes. In 

 the male the left dorsal arm becomes thickened and larger from front to 

 back, and usually is curled backward; its suckers become smaller and 

 much more numerous than on the right arm. being arranged in four 

 crowded rows, except near the base, where there are but two ; the sucker- 

 stalks also become stout and cylindrical or tapered, their diameter equal- 

 ing that of the suckers. The right arm remains normal, with two alter- 

 nating rows of suckers, regularly decreasing to the tip, as in both the 

 dorsal arms of the female. Tentacular arms long, slender, extensible; 

 club distinctly enlarged, usually curled in preserved examples. The 

 suckers on the club are numerous, unequal, arranged in about eight close 

 rows ; those forming the two or three rows next the upper margin are 

 much larger than the rest, being three or four times as broad, and have 

 denticulated rims. Color, in life, pale and translucent, with scattered 

 chromatophores. In the alcoholic specimens the general color of body, 

 head, and arms is reddish, thickly spotted with rather large chromato- 

 I^hores, which also exist on the inner surface of the arms, between the 

 suckers, and to some extent on the tentacular arms and bases of the 

 fins; outer part of fins translucent white; anterior edge of mantle with 

 a white border. Length of body 25"™ to 40""". Pen small and very thin, 

 soft and delicate. It is angularly jjointed or pen-shaped anteriorly, the 

 shaft narrowing backward ; a thin, lanceolate expansion or web extends 

 along nearly the posterior half. Upper jaw with a strongly incurved, 

 sharp beak, without a notch at its base. Lower jaw with the tip of the 

 beak strongly incurved, and with a broad but prominent rounded lobe 

 on the middle of its cutting edges. 



Odontophore with simple, acute-triangular, median teeth; inner lat- 

 erals simple, nearly of the same size and shape as the median, except at 

 base; outer laterals much longer, strongly curved forward. 



Over 150 specimens of this interesting species were secured by the 

 writer and others of the dredging party on the United States Fish Cora- 

 mission steamer "Fish Hawk", Septeuiber 4, 18S0. It was particularly 

 abundant at stations 870 and 871, in about 125 to 150 fathoms, on the 

 rapidly sloping outer bank of the coast, under the inner edge of the 

 Gulf Stream. Both sexes occurred in about equal numbers, and also 

 the young, of various sizes. It was also taken iu considerable numbers 



