[51] CEPHALOPODS OF NORTHEASTERN COAST OF AMERICA. 261 



Observations on the specimens described from foreign localities. 

 A.— Atlantic ocean species. 



We are largely indebted to Professor Steenstrup and to Dr. Harting for 

 our earliest knowledge of the specimens preserved in European museums, 

 or cast ashore on the European coasts. Professor Steenstrup* has given 

 accounts, compiled from contemporary documents, of a specimen taken 

 at Malmo, Sweden, about 1546 or 1549, and of two specimens of huge 

 Cephalopods cast ashore at Iceland, in 1639, and November or Decem- 

 ber, 1790. 



The specimen of 1790, described in the MSS. of Svend Paulsen, 1792, 

 had tentacles 3 fathoms long; the body (with head) was 3£ fathoms 

 long. That of 1639, described in Olafsens og Povelsens Eeise til Island, 

 ii, p. 716, was 4 to 5 fathoms long. 



In the article published in 1857, he also briefly mentioned a specimen 

 cast ashore at Jutland, December, 1853, of which the jaws were pre- 

 served, and on which he then based the species Architeuthis monachus; 

 and another specimen, which he named Architeuthis dux, taken by Capt. 

 Vilh. Hygom in the Western Atlantic. He has also since described and 

 figuredt the jaws of the specimen of Architeuthis monachus obtained at 

 Jutland in December, 1853. 



In the same memoir, of which I have seen only the first few pages, there 

 are references to a description and figures of U A. Titan," obtained in 

 1855 by Captain Hygom in north latitude 31°, west longitude 76°. The 

 latter specimen appears to be the same as that referred to in 1856 as A. 

 dux, and the same that Harting! mentioned, under the name " Architeu- 

 this dux Steenstrup," as collected at the same time and place, and of which 

 he published an outline figure (see our Plate XII, fig. 4) of the lower jaw, 

 copied from a drawing furnished to him by Steenstrup. 



Harting states that the pen or l gladius' of this specimen is 6 feet 

 long. Many important parts of this specimen were secured, and I 

 regret that I have been unable to see the figures and description of it, 

 referred to by Harting as forming part of Professor Steenstrup's unpub- 

 lished memoir. But to judge by the outline figure given by Harting, it 

 is a species quite distinct from those described by me. The lower jaw 



*Meddelelse om tvende Kiaempestore BlaBksprutter, opdrevne 1639 og 1790 ved 

 Islands Kyst, og oin uogle andre nordiske Dyr. Forkandlinger Skandinaviske Natur- 

 forskeres, v, pp. 950-957, 1847, Copenhagen, 1849. 



Oplysninger om Atlanter colossale Blsekspr utter, Forkandlinger, Skand. Naturf., 

 1856, vii, p. 182, Ckristiania, 1857. 



tin a paper, of which I have seen some proof-sheets, given by him to Dr. Packard, 

 entitled " Spolia Atlantica." This memoir has not been published. The plate (1) 

 that I have seen is marked "Vid. Selsk. Skrifter, V. Raekke, naturv. og mathem. 

 Afd. iv Bind;" and there are references to three other plates, illustrating "A. Titan,'* 

 &c. 



i Description de quelques fragments de deux Ce'phalopodes gigantesques. Publiee* 

 par l'Acade'mie Royale des ScTtaces a Amsterdam. 1860. 4to, with three plates. 

 (Verh. K. Akad. Weten., ix, 1861.) The figures have been partly copied in Tryon , » 

 Manual of Conchology, i, plates 60 and 86. 



