[73] CEPHALOPODS OF NORTHEASTERN COAST OF AMERICA. 283 



is good reason to believe that most of the supposed cases of Octopus at- 

 tacking and drowning persons (like that of an Indian girl of the Oregon 

 coast, often cited), are merely instances of accidental drowning, or sui- 

 cides, and that the presence of an Octopus is a post-mortem circum- 

 tance. Their power and ferocity, as well as their size, have often been 

 excessively exaggerated. 



Part II. — Monographic revision of the Cephalopods of the 

 Atlantic coast, from Cape Hatteras to Newfoundland. 



The number and variety of Cephalopods known to inhabit this coast 

 have been very much increased within a few years, principally through 

 the investigation of the marine fauna carried on by the United States 

 Fish Commission during the past ten years. Many of the newly dis- 

 covered species have been captured from time to time by the dredging 

 parties of the Fish Commission. Several very interesting new forms 

 have been presented to the Fish Commission by the enterprising and 

 intelligent fishermen of Gloucester, Mass., many of whom have, during 

 the past three years, saved and brought home at all seasons large col- 

 lections of marine animals of all kinds, including a very large number 

 of new and strange species, of the greatest interest.* Mr. A. Agassiz, 

 while dredging in deep water off the coast, on the Coast-Survey steamer 

 " Blake," last season, obtained three additional new forms, which are also 

 included in this revision. Descriptions of most of these new species 

 have already been published by the writer in various articles in the 

 American Journal of Science, Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology (vol. viii), Transactions of the Connecticut Academy (vol. v) t 

 and Proceedings of the National Museum (vol. iii), but many additional 

 details and some new figures have here been added. 



In this revision thirty-two species are included ; of these, two are 

 probably extralimital. Of the thirty species of Cephalopods that we 

 now know to belong to this fauna, twenty-five have been added to it 

 within the past ten years ; of these, eighteen species have been de- 

 scribed as new by the writer; among these were six new genera. 



Subclass DIBRANCHIATA, or ACETABULIFERA. 



Cryptodibranehiaia Blainville, Diet. Sci. Nat., vol. xxxii, p. 172, 1824. 

 Acelabulifercs Fe'rus. & D'Orb., 1835; Cephal. Ace"tab., pp. v, xxxv, 1. 



D'Orbigny, Hist. Cuba, Moll., p. 5, 1853. 

 Dibranchiata Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. London, vol. ii, p. 103, 1838. 

 Anteped'ta Gray, Catal. Brit. Mus., Moll., vol. i, p. 3, 1849. 



Branchial cavity large, containing a single pair of large, highly spe- 

 cialized gills, each having a muscular branchial heart at its base. Siphon 

 used in locomotion, with or without an internal valve, completely tubu- 



* The number of separate lots thus brought in and presented to the Fish Commis- 

 sion amounts to over 900. Besides the invertebrates, many new and remarkable- 

 fishes are included in these donations. 



