90 



pointing toward8 the gullet, and being distant i inch frotn the 

 gloUis: the length of the tongue \vas H inch, 



" The epiglottis was broad and indented on the anterior edge. 



" The thyroid gland was siogle, of an oval form, and nearly įths 

 of an inch in length. 



" The heart was broad, and its apex blunt." 



Colonel Sykes exhibited several specimens of Loligo sagittata, 

 var. /3, Lam., wliich came on board the Lady Feversham on his pas- 

 sage to England in 1831. He read the following extracts respect- 

 ing them from his journal. 



"Monday, April 3, 1831.— Lat. 22" 20' S., long. 1" 52' E.— 

 Three specimens of Loligo sagittata leaped on board at sun-set on 

 the forecastle, which the nien saw, the trade wind being so light at 

 the time as to threaten a calm. 



" Two days after\vards, in lat. 18^ 6' S., long. 3° 12' W., several 

 other individuals of the šame species were found at daylight on the 

 poop, having come on board during the night, the wind baviiig been 

 steady and the sea smooth." 



Col, Sykes stated that his object in bringing the specimens under 

 the notice of the Society, vvas to point out the locality from which 

 they vvere obtaincd, the habitats given by Lamarck being the Euro, 

 pean and .American seas ; and to direct particular attention to the 

 leaping povvers of the animal, \vhich he believed to have been 

 hitherto unobserved. He added that he vvas unable to satisfy himself 

 asto the organization by which it was enabled to throvv itself above 

 the surface of the sea. 



Mr. 0\ven mentioned as an additional instance of the existence 

 of this power in the Loligo sagittata, that tvvo specimens vvere pre- 

 served in the Museum of the Royal CoUege of Surgeons, to which 

 they vvere presenled by Dr. Henderson as having leaped on board a 

 vessel in the Mediterranean. 



Dr. Grant again called the attention of the Society to his spe- 

 cimen of Loligopsis guttata, Grant, and to specimens of Sepiola vul- 

 garis, Leach, for the purpose of explaining more fuliy the anatomical 

 structure of these species, vvhich he had exhibited, with Sepiola steno- 

 dactyla, Grant, at the Meetings on February 12 and March 26. He 

 gavę a detailed account of their anatomy, vvhich he illustrated by 

 reference to an extensive series of diagrams prepared by himself. 

 These diagrams have been engraved on a reduced scale for publi- 

 cation in the Society s Transactions. 



In the Loligopsis {hs parietės of the mantle are remarkably thin 

 and loose, excepting where they are supported by the dorsal trans- 

 parent lamina, and by tvvo thin cartilaginous/aw/;i«?extending from 

 the free edge of the mantle about half-vvay dovvn the sides, and 

 placed rather tovvards the ventral surface of the animal. These la- 

 teral lamina; present an appearance anomalous in Cephalopods. Each 

 of them sends out tvvelve or thirteen conical tubercles, about a line 



