[95] CEPHALOPODS OF NORTHEASTERN COAST OF AMERICA. 305 



related to our species, but if the published figures and descriptions can 

 be relied upon, it can hardly be identical, as D'Orbigny and other writers 

 have considered it. The American form has a more elongated body, 

 with a differently-shaped caudal fin, which is relatively shorter than 

 the best authors attribute to 0. sagittatus. The figure given by Verany 

 is, however, an exception in this respect, for in it the body is represented 

 about as long as in some of our larger specimens.! It should be re- 

 marked, however, that Lesueur's figure of 0. illecebrosus shows the body 

 too small and too short in proportion to the size of the fin, and the fin 

 wrong in shape and occupying more than half the length of the mantle; 

 the proportions of the arms are also erroneous. But Lesueur explains 

 these defects by his statement that the figures were hasty sketches 

 made for the sake of preserving the colors, and that he saved a speci- 

 men by which to correct, afterwards, his drawings and description, but 

 the specimen saved turned out to be Taonius pavo, so that the original 

 sketches were published without correction. Tryou's fig. 342 is a poor 

 copy of one of Lesueur's, published without credit to him. 



If the European form be really identical with the American, the dis- 

 tribution is very anomalous, for while the former is a Southern European 

 form, inhabiting the Mediterranean and scarcely extending north of the 

 southern waters of Great Britain, where it appears to be rare, our spe- 

 cies is a strictly northern, cold-water form, rarely found south of Cape 

 Cod, even in winter, unless in deep water. Its range extends quite to 

 the Arctic Ocean. * 



Notes on habits. 



When living, this is a very beautiful creature, owing to the brilliancy 

 of its eyes and its bright and quickly-changing colors. It is also very 

 quick and graceful in its movements. This is the most common " squid n 

 north of Cape Cod, and extends as far south as Newport, B. L, and in 

 deep water to the region off Cape Hatteras. It is very abundant in 

 Massachusetts Bay, the Bay of Fundy, and northward to Newfound- 

 land. It is taken on the coast of Newfoundland in immense numbers, 

 and used as bait for codfish. It occurs in vast schools when it visits 

 the coast, but whether it seeks those shores for the purpose of spawning 

 or in search of food is not known. I have been unable to learn anything 

 personally in regard to its breeding habits, nor have I been able to ascer- 

 tain that any one has any information in regard either to the time, man- 

 ner,' or place of spawning. At Eastport, Me., I have several times ob- 

 served them in large numbers in midsummer. But at that time they 



t According to Jeffreys (Brit. Conch., vol. v, p. 229, pi. 5), the English 0. sagittatus 

 has the fin "from | to nearly £ the length of the mantle;" and the form of the pen, 

 especially of the posterior end, as figured by him, is different from that of our species, 



Professor Steenstrup, in a recent article (Oversigt K. Danske Vidensk. Selsk. For- 

 handl., 188C), separates the Mediterranean from the American form. He restores, in 

 the same article, the name sagittatus to var. a of Lamarck (= 0. todarus of most modern 

 authors), which he now calls Todarodes sagittatus. 

 S. Miss. 59 20 



