LOLIGINIDA. 25 
very large size. The commander of the vessel, on perceiving it, 
halted upon his course and made preparations ‘for capturing the 
monster. Guns were charged and harpoons hastily prepared ; 
but at the first discharge of the former, the animal dived under 
the ship and immediately appeared on the other side. Attacked 
again with harpoons, it disappeared two or three times, and, each 
time that it reascended to the surface, its long arms writhed. 
The ship followed or arrested its course according to the move- 
ments of the animal. This chase lasted more than three hours. 
The commander of the Alecton was determined to capture this 
new kind of enemy; nevertheless he did not dare to lower a boat, 
for a single arm of this cephalopod would suffice to overturn it. 
The harpoons which were launched at it penetrated the flabby 
flesh and came out without success; several balls traversed it 
also unsuccessfully. Nevertheless it received one of them which 
appeared to wound it badly, causing it to vomit a great quantity 
of frothy matter and blood mixed with viscid matter which 
spread a strong odor of musk. It was at this instant that they 
succeeded in lassooing the animal, but the rope slid along the 
elastic body until arrested by the fins. Attempting to haul ‘their 
prize aboard, they had already raised the greater part of the 
animal from the water when its enormous weight caused the rope 
to penetrate the flesh and separate the posterior portion of the 
body—which was drawn on board, whilst the rest disappeared in 
the sea. 
The above is condensed from a letter addressed to M. Moquin- 
Tandon, by M. Sabin Bertholet, consul of France, at the Cana- 
ries, who saw the fragment alluded to, and received the relation 
of the commandant of the vessel. One of the officers made a 
sketch of this animal, which, in conjunction with the description, 
is considered by Messrs. Crosse and Fisher sufficiently exact to 
warrant them in determining it to belong to a new species of 
Loligo, which they name ZL. Bouyer 1. The figure and description 
show but eight arms, but the elongated form of the body, the 
pr oportional shortness of the arms and the presence of the pos- 
terior fins, show it to have been one of the decapods. Probably 
the tentacular arms were either deficient or were not seen. 
LOLIGUNCULA, Steenstrup, 1881. Swimming lobes thick, wide 
and very short, forming together a transverse oval; female 
receiving the spermatophores upon the interior wall of the 
mantle, alongside the left branchia. JZ. brevis, Blainy. (xxv, 23). 
Characters perhaps insufficient. 
TEUTHIS, Gray, 1849. Buccal membrane without suckers. A 
single European species, L. media. It was known to Aristotle 
and the ancients; and is highly esteemed for food in Italy. 
3 
