[41] CEPHALOPOCS OF NORTHEASTERN COAST OF AMERICA. 251 



Architeuthis princeps Verrill.— (King of Giant Squids.) 



Architeuthis princeps Verrill, Amer. Jour. Science, vol. is, pp. 124, 181, pi. 5, 



1875. American Naturalist, vol. ix, pp. 22, 79, figs. 25-27, 1877. Trans. 



Conn. Acad., vol. v, p. 210, pi. 17-20, 1879-'80. Amer. Jour. Science, vol. 



six, p. 288, pi. 12, April, 1880. 

 Ommmtrephes (Architeuthis) princeps Tyron, Manual of Conchology, p. 185, 



pi. 85, 1879. (Figures copied and description compiled from papers by 



A. E. V.) 



Plates VII-XI. 



This species is distinguished by the length and inequality of the short 

 arms, of which the longest (ventral or subventral) exceed the combined 

 length of the head and body by about one-sixth; by the denticulation 

 of the suckers of the short arms, of which there are two principal 

 forms, some having very oblique horny rings, with the outer edge very 

 strongly toothed and the inner edge slightly or imperfectly denticu- 

 lated ; the others having less oblique rings, with the denticles similar in 

 form all round, though smaller on the inner margin; by the stronger 

 laws, which have a deeper notch and a more elevated tooth on the ante- 

 rior edge ; and by the caudal fin, which is short-sagittate in form, with 

 the posterior end less acuminate than in the preceding species.* 



This species was originally based on the lower jaw mentioned as No. 

 1, and on the upper and lower jaws designated as No. 10, in the first 

 part of this article. The jaws of No. 10 were obtained from the stomach 

 of a sperm-whale taken in the North Atlantic, and were presented to 

 the Essex Institute by Capt. N. E. Atwood, of Provincetown, Mass., 

 but the date and precise locality of the capture are unknown. The size 

 and form of these jaws are well shown in Plate XI, figs. 1, 2. The total 

 length of the upper jaw (fig. 1) is 127 mm (5 inches); greatest transverse 

 breadth, 37™ (1.45 inches); front to back, 89 mm (3.5 inches); width of 

 palatine lamina, 58.9 mm (2.32 inches). The frontal portion is considerably 

 broken, but the dorsal portion remaining appears to extend nearly, but 

 not quite, to the actual posterior end, the length from the point of the 

 beak to the posterior edge beiug 86.4 mm (3.4 inches). The texture is 

 firmer and the lamina3 are relatively thicker than in A. Earveyi, The 

 rostrum and most of the frontal regions are black and polished, gradu- 

 ally becoming orange-brown -and translucent toward the posterior bor- 

 der, and marked with faint stride radiating from the tip of the beak, and 

 by faint ridges or lines of growth parallel with the posterior margin ; a 

 slight but sharp ridge extends backward from the notch at the base of 

 the cutting edge, and other less marked ones from the anterior border 

 of the aloe. The tip of the beak is quite strongly curved forward and 

 acute, with a slight shallow groove, commencing just below the tip, on 

 each side, and extending backward only a short distance and gradually 

 fading out. The front or cutting edge is nearly smooth and well curved, 

 the curvature being greatest toward the tip; at its base there is a broad, 

 angular notch, deepest externally. The inner face of the rostrum is con- 



* The possibility that this and A. Harveyi may be only the sexual forms of one species 

 is fully recognized by the author. 



