591 



stand as of subgeneric rather than generic significance^ and to the present 

 writer the same seems equally true of LolUguncida. 



A Note on the Genus Abraliopsis. 



Through the kindness of Dr. I. Ijima there has been recently 

 brought to my attention a hitherto unnoticed paper by Dr. S. Watasé, 

 entitled "Luminous Organs of Abraliopsis^ a New Phosphorescent Ce- 

 phalopod from the Japan Sea", which appeared in the Zoological Maga- 

 zine (Tokyo^, vol. 17, pp. 119—122, for June 1905. Excepting the title 

 the entire paper is in Japanese, which is doubtless the reason it has 

 escaped attention so long, although upon securing a translation of it 

 from a Japanese friend, I find that it contains several original obser- 

 vations of more than passing interest. It will be remembered that Chun 

 (1910) rejected the theory that the three curious pigmented swellings at 

 the tips of the ventral arms in Abraliopsis are true photogenic organs 

 on the ground that their dense coat of black pigment completely enve- 

 lops them, even though the mere existence of such a pigment layer has 

 always appeared to me strong evidence that their function must have 

 something to do with light. Especially noteworthy therefore in view of 

 the many guesses and doubts as to the proper interpretation of their 

 function, is the direct observation that in life these organs are brilli- 

 antly photogenic, illuminating the surrounding medium for a space of 

 about a foot. At night these, the five subocular organs, and those 

 scattered over the ventral aspect of the body are said to shine with a 

 brilliant light "like that of stars in the heaven". If I understand my 

 translator correctly, Watasé also observes that the giving out of this 

 light is largely controlled by the expansion or contraction of the chro- 

 matophores which surround and overlie the organs themselves. 



The species in question is undoubtedly that which I recently descri- 

 bed as A. scintiUans {Berry 1912, p. 425, text figures 3, 4, pis. 7, 8, 9, 

 figs. 1 — 6), which appears to be an abundant form on the west coast 

 of Japan. I had supposed my specimens to have been taken atMisaki, 

 Sagami, but Drs. Ijima and Ishikawa have written me that this loca- 

 lity is probably erroneous. Ishikawa states that my specimens No. 

 279 really came from Uwotu on the Japan Sea, Watasé quotes To- 

 yama as a locality, and I have recently received specimens from Nameri- 

 gawa, Ecchiu. According to Watasé as many as two million individuals 

 of this species are sometimes taken by the fishermen in a single haul. 



Literature cited. 



Berry, S. S., 1911, A note on the genus Lollùiiineitla. Proceedings Academy Na- 

 tural Sciences Philadelphia, pp. 100—105, pi. 6, April 1911. 



,1912, A catalogue of Japanese Cephalopoda. Proceedings Academy Natural 



Sciences Philadelphia, pp. 380—444, text-fig?. 1—4, pis. 5-9, Oct. 1912. 



