242 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [32] 



ing, so as to restore the posterior end and some of the middle portions, 

 giving some idea as to what its original structure must have been. The 

 texture and structure of this part of the pen was somewhat like that of 

 Loligo, but it was thinner, and had less definite outlines, and less of the 

 peculiar quill-shape seen in the latter. The anterior end of the blade, 

 instead of being even and regular in outline, appears to have been broadly 

 rounded, or somewhat abrupt, with an indefinite outline, thinning out 

 gradually on all sides into a soft, fibrous membrane, while the shaft, or 

 or quill-portion, was not so distinctly differentiated from the broad, thin 

 blade, which tapered to the posterior end, and was probably slightly 

 hooded at the tip. The fragments in my possession belong to four more 

 or less separated sections. The first section includes 11 inches of the 

 posterior end, from close to the extreme tip forward ; the second section 

 includes about 9 inches, belonging to the posterior portion, and extends 

 to about 25 inches from the posterior end, but lacks the extreme lateral 

 margins outside the costre (Plate III, fig. 3) ; the third section consists 

 of about 7.5 inches, belonging to the middle region, but does not include 

 the whole width on either side of the midrib; the fourth section is about 

 10 inches in length, and probably came from near the anterior end of the 

 blade, apparently representing nearly the whole width on both sides. 



From these fragments we can restore pretty accurately the last 25 inches 

 and 12 inches or more of the middle portion, though the precise form of 

 the indefinite anterior end of the blade must remain doubtful. The ex- 

 treme posterior tip is broken off, but it was evidently pointed and thin 

 as in Ommastrephes. At the mutilated end the breadth is now about a 

 third of an inch. From this point the lateral edges diverge rapidly, with 

 a slightly concave outline, for about 1.25 inches, where the breadth be- 

 comes 1.20 inches ; beyond this the margins are nearly straight, and di- 

 verge gradually to the end of the first section, at 11 inches from the tip. 

 At this place the breadth is 3.10 inches, the marginal portions outside of 

 the lateral costse being about .40 of an inch and the midrib about .25 of 

 an inch broad. Beyond this point a section about 4.75 inches long is 

 entirely wanting, and the succeeding section lacks the marginal por- 

 tions, the lateral costae forming the margins on both sides. At 10.50 

 inches from the tip the breadth between the lateral costos is 3.75 inches; 

 at 25 inches it is 5 inches broad. Whether the marginal portions origi- 

 nally extended to this rwint with a breadth as great as they have at 11 

 inches is uncertain, for their breadth decreases somewhat to that point, 

 from a point about 4 inches from the tip, where their breadth is .00 of 

 an inch. The midrib is strongly marked, being raised into a semi-cylin- 

 drical form, and of somewhat thicker material than the lateral portions; 

 its breadth and night steadily increases throughout both these sections 

 and the following one, until it becomes nearly half an inch broad, but 

 in the section from nearer the middle it is low and narrow, and de- 

 creases rapidly toward the end. The lateral costai are well marked, 

 considerably elevated, and well rounded ; they run at first close to and 



