A, FE. Verrili—North American Cephalopods. 181 
General account of the several specimens, and of their occurrence. 
No. 1.—Grand Banks specimen, 1871. (Architeuthis princeps.) 
PLATE XVIII, FIGURE 3. 
This specimen was found floating at the surface, on the Grand 
Banks of Newfoundland, in October, 1871, by Captain Campbell, of 
the schooner “ B. D. Haskins,” of Gloucester, Mass. It was taken on 
board and part of it used for bait.* Dr. A. S. Packard has given, in 
the American Naturalist, vol. vii, p. 91, Feb., 1873, the facts that 
have been published in regard to the history of this individual. But 
its jaws were sent to the Smithsonian Institution, and were sent to 
me by Professor Baird to be described and figured. The horny jaw 
or beak from this specimen is thick and strong, nearly black; it is 
acute at the apex, with a decided notch or angle on the inside, about 
‘75 of an inch from the point, and beyond the notch is a large promi- 
nent angular lobe. The body of the specimen from which this jaw 
was taken is stated to have measured 15 feet in length and 4 feet 8 
inches in circumference. The arms were mutilated, but the portions 
remaining were estimated to be 9 or 10 feet long, and 22 inches in 
circumference, two being shorter than the rest. It was estimated to 
weigh 2000 pounds. 
No. 2.—Conception Bay specimen, 1878. (A. Harveyi ?.) 
A large individual attacked two men, who were in a small boat, in 
Conception Bay, October 27, 1873. Two of the arms, which it threw 
across the boat, were cut off with a hatchet, and brought ashore. 
Full accounts of this adventure, written by Rev. M. Harvey, have 
been published in many of the magazines and newspapers.t A _por- 
tion of one of these arms, measuring 19 feet in length, was preserved 
by Rev. M. Harvey and Mr. Alexander Murray for the museum at 
*T have been informed by many other fishermen that these ‘ big squids,’ as they 
call them, are occasionally taken on the Grand Banks and used for bait. Others state 
that they have seen them in that region, without being able to capture them. Nearly 
all the specimens hitherto taken appear to have been more or less disabled when first 
observed, otherwise they probably would not appear at the surface in the day-time. 
From the fact that they have mostly come ashore in the night, I infer that they inhabit 
chiefly the very deep and cold fiords of Newfoundland and come up to the surface only 
in the night. 
+ See Amer. Jour. Science, vol. vii, p. 158, 1874; and American Naturalist, vol. viii, 
No. 2, p. 120, Feb.. 1874, in a letter from Mr. Alexander Murray. Also, Proc. Zool. 
Soc. Lond., p. 178, 1874. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., xvi, p. 161, 1873. 
