276 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



Type. — Catalogue No. 214385, United States National Museum. [S. S. B. No. an.] 

 Type locality. — Albatross station 3904, surface, off Mokapu Islet, north coast of Molokai, Hawaiian 

 Islands; one fragmentary specimen, April 30, 1902. 



Distribution. — Vicinity of Molokai, Hawaiian Islands (Albatross). 



Specimens examined. — In addition to the type but one other even more fragmentary specimen has 

 been seen. This was taken in the Pailolo Channel near Molokai, from a depth of 258 to 284 fathoms, 

 Albatross station 3898 [S. S. B. No. 212]. 



Remarks. — Both the specimens mentioned are in extremely fragmentary and indeed partially 

 decomposed condition. In the larger example, which has been chosen for the type, only the mouth 

 parts, fortunately together with a large part of the umbrella and the inclosed portions of the arms, remain 

 in a recognizable state. The tips of the arms are missing, and the viscera as well as the eyes have been 

 entirely torn from the body. What remains of the head and mantle is tangled and lacerated beyond 

 repair. The lateral fins still adhere and are fortunately more or less intact. The funnel is present, 



but there is no trace of the funnel organ. Large fragments of the 

 •-.'. internal cartilages remain but defy any accurate description at 



■ft:;.- : my hands. 



5£V : "£ ; . ' • Th e smaller specimen is even more mutilated, so that here 



4*i-i$&:S.v' '•'• only the buccal mass and those portions of the umbrella and arms 



..:■.- ,,.;v5&$$JS:jV:;-; ■ which immediately adjoin it are left to us. 



Isvfe^i"^.:^'.-' • Even from these wrecks, however, enough has been made out 



:,'■'•'• to render it evident that a species is represented which, though 

 closely allied to Cirroieuthis and Stauroteuthis, differs very mark- 

 edly in the apparently total absence of cirri on any of the arms as 

 well as the presence of an odontophore, a structure reported to 

 exist in no species of the two genera named except the recently 



described C. macro pe Berry from the coast of California. Perhaps, 

 Fig. 2. — Ltstmolculhis lugvbris, dorsal as- . , , .. . , . .-- ... , ,« , ., . . 



pect of left fin of type [ai], natural size. mdeed - ll ls not impossible that the latter species is congeneric. 



Drawn by R. L. Hudson. In addition to the supposed absence of cirri, this species is 



distinguishable from Cirroteuthis magna Hoyle, C. umbellata 

 Fischer, C. megaptera Verrill, C. mulleri Eschricht, and Stauroteuthis meangemis Hoyle, by the rela- 

 tively smaller and differently shaped fins, which are obovate and in outline more nearly like those of 

 C. pacifica Hoyle. From the last species, however, the present form differs in the larger, much less 

 numerous suckers, lack of cirri, and less prominent differentiation of the arms from the web. It 

 differs, moreover, from C. magna, C. mulleri, and S. syrlensis Verrill in the lack of an "intermediate 

 web" joining the arms to the umbrella. Correlation of the Albatross specimens with the descriptions 

 of C. caudani Joubin, C. plena Verrill, C. macrope Berry, C. grimaldii Joubin, or S. hippocrepium Hoyle 

 is equally out of the question. The tendency to a zigzag displacement exhibited by many of the suckers 

 might be regarded as a characteristic feature, were it not for the possibility that it is due to distortion. 

 All the basal suckers are relatively very distant from one another, the space between those of the same 

 row being about 25 millimeters, but they gradually become more closely ranked distally. 



Of course the possibility must not be overlooked that the apparent absence of cirri may be due 

 to their restriction to the extremities of the arms as above suggested, but to the unfortunate state of 

 preservation of the material. However, the appearance of the specimens in question is such that I 

 have felt obliged to regard the possibility as a remote one, so that the erection of a new group seems 

 expedient. 



It is extremely unfortunate that the condition of both specimens is so unsatisfactory, but they 

 belong to a family of abyssal octopods of such elusive habit and tender structure that almost all the 

 described species have been founded upon similar fragmentary material. We have a really complete 

 knowledge of scarcely any of these forms, and it may be that the number of nominal species will have 



o An appearance which perhaps may be partially due to the loss of the distal portions of the arms, as in quite a number of 

 forms the basal suckers are less cjowded than their successors. 



