[ 125 ] CEPHALOPODS OF NORTHEASTERN COAST OF AMERICA. 
Arms with depressed suckers. Tentacular arms with a well-developed 
club, bearing suckers. 
DESMOTEUTHIS Verrill. 
Taonius (pars) Steenstrup, 1861. 
Desmoteuthis Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad., vol. v, p. 300, Feb., 1881. 
Body very long, tapering backward to a long, slender, acute caudal 
portion. Caudal fin long, narrow, tapering to a long, acute tip. Anterior 
edge of the mantle united directly to the head, on the dorsal side, by a 
commissure, so that there is no free edge medially, and the surface is 
continuous, as in Sepiola; the dorsal commissure extends backward and 
diverges within the mantle; two additional muscular commissures unite 
the lateral inner surfaces of the mantle to the sides of the siphon. 
Eyes very large and prominent, with simple circular lids. No aquiferous 
pores. Siphon large and prominent, with neither valve nor dorsal bri¬ 
dles. Arms small and short, subequal, with a basal web and lateral 
membranes; suckers smallest on the ventral arms, and urceolate, largest 
and flatish on the middle of the lateral and dorsal arms, feebly toothed. 
Pen extending the whole length of the body, very slender and of uni¬ 
form width for more than half the length, then becoming broad-lanceo¬ 
late, the terminal portion having the edges involute, forming a long, 
slender cone, into which the ovary extends. Nidamental glands large, 
symmetrically developed on the two sides. Gills small, situated in front 
of the middle of the body. 
The genus Taonius was proposed by Steenstrup to include this and 
T. pavo (Les. sp.), but he has not, to my knowledge, definitely defined 
the genus. As T. pavo appears to be generically distinct from the pres¬ 
ent genus, I propose to retain Taonius , with T. pavo for its type. By 
many writers T. pavo has been placed in Loligopsis or Leachia. Steen¬ 
strup himself formerly referred D. hyperborea to Leachia. By Tryon 
both have been referred back to Loligopsis. 
. Loligopsis , as defined by D’Orbigny, in 1839, included T. pavo , as well 
as the type of Leachia , but he referred Lamarck’s original type of Loli¬ 
gopsis to the genus, as amended by him, only with doubt. 
It seems desirable, therefore, to explain this confusion, so far as pos¬ 
sible. 
Loligopsis Lamarck,* 1S12 and 1822, was based only on an imperfect 
figure, made by P6ron, of a small oceanic squid which had lost its ten¬ 
tacular arms. The supposed character of having eight arms was, for 
him, the only basis for the genus, no others being mentioned. The 
species (L. Peronii) was, however, described very briefly as a small squid 
with eight equal arms and two posterior, distinct caudal fins, and it was 
compared to Sepiola. It has apparently not been rediscovered by later 
writers, unless L. chrysophthalma D’Orb. be the same species, which is 
quite possible. The latter, as figured, is a small, sliort-bodied species , 
*Extr. do Cours do Zool., p. 133, 1812 (t. D’Orb.); Auiruaux sans Vert., vol. vii, p. 
659, 1822. 
