REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [174] 
rounded by small scales, in many rows; the marginal scales are larger, 
forming a circle of denticles. 
Color purplish brown with rather large chocolate-brown chromato- 
phores; outer portion of fins pale, thin and translucent; edge of mantle, 
siphon, under side of head and arms, and greater part of tentacular 
arms whitish, with only minute chromatophores. 
' Measurements of Rossia megaptera. 
| 
Millime- 
ters, | ches. 
Length, end of body to dorsal edge of mantle, exclusive of membrane. ..........--.. 32 1.25 
Length, end of body to ventral edge of mantle ....--.-.--------------+-+-20++-------- 24 -95 
Length, end of body to base of dorsal arms .......------------------+--++-+----205-- 57 2.25 
Length, end of body to tip of dorsal arms. .-..-.--.------------------+--++se--20---- 86 3.40 
Length, end of body to tip of second pair -..--..--------------------------+---------- 95 S00 
Length, end of body to tip of third pair....-....-----------------------+--02+-------- 103 4.08 
Length, end of body to tip of fourth pair.---.-.--------------------+-----+0++------- 95 3.75 
Length, end of body to tip of tentacular arms .-......--..--..--+---+--2+++-----+---- 188 7.45 
Breadth of body and fins together. ... 20 ..-200 20m en enn ane wenn cw ween e wenn ene nn- 63 2. 50 
Breadth of body between bases of fins ........-..------------- 2-20 eee eee seen eens 22 85 
Breadth of body, beneath fins, exclusive of membrane ..--...----------------------- 28 1.10 
Breadth of head @cross CVES ~~~. voce c cere ce wewm en sc ness denen case cn abssiesmer=me 36 1.40 
Breadth of fins antero-posteriorly..-.....-..--.------.----- Agar GRRE SABE SS bee 27 1. 08 
Length of fins, base to edge (outer) .---.--.---------------- +2222 2 -- 22 eee ee eee 22 . 85 
Diameter of eyes. ----.-------- 2-0 es 2 en twee ene een e nn ne ene ene= 2 SAS se = 19 ifs) 
Diameter of large suckers of lateral arms ....-..---------------------------------- as 1.50 . 06 
Diameter of large suckers Of ClUD- 2.0 .c5c r= a cmnise le cee em ene sie mnie menies ~ om one cena a> = 25 .01 
Breadth Of CLD ie == os <oe conn = sev cn cieunececeee sucies SE ereme dem plese enl= cnn === =m eee = 4 -16 
Dength of Club. .- 22-2 sc nce ence oe cee ae ete nnn vine nine eee nice west seni nee aa an aon 24 95 
Southern coast of Newfoundland, in 150 fathoms, Capt. K. Markuson 
and crew, schooner “ Notice,” June, 1880. 
This species is remarkable for the great size of the fins and eyes, and 
for the length of the tentacular arms. It appears to be a species specially 
adapted for inhabiting greater depths than the species hitherto discov- 
ered. It has the same soft, flabby integument observed in Octopus lentus 
and Stauroteuthis syrtensis, found at similar depths. But the looseness 
of the skin may be due in part to the condition of the specimen when 
preserved. The tentacular suckers are unusually small. 
HETEROTEUTHIS Gray (revised. ) 
Heteroteuthis (sub-genus) Gray, Catal. Moll. Brit. Mus., i, p. 90, 1849, 
Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad., v, p. 357, June, 1881. 
The body is short, thick, rounded: posteriorly. Fins large and lateral. 
Head and eyes large. The anterior border of the mantle-edge is free, 
dorsally. Pen shorter than the mantle, narrow anteriorly; posterior 
blade small, slightly expanded laterally. Club of the tentacular arms 
well developed, with numerous suckers, in many rows, those in the upper 
marginal rows decidedly larger than the rest; the edge of the aperture 
is denticulated by small acute scales. Middle suckers of the lateral and 
ventral arms distinctly larger in the female; in the male, abruptly very 
much larger than the others. In the male, the left dorsal arm is hecto- 
cotylized by having much smaller and more numerous suckers, arranged 
in four rows, and by the development of a marginal membrane. 
