[181] CEPHALOPODS OF NORTHEASTERN COAST OF AMERICA 391 



groove along its edge is fringed ; near the end, the groove connects with 

 a rounded, obliquely placed, broad, flat or slightly concave lateral lobe, 

 with transverse wrinkles or plications on the inner surface ; the termi • 

 nal portion of the arm is a long-fusiform, smooth process. 



The permanent attachment of the mantle to the siphon, by means of 

 commissures, is a very distinctive character. 



Alloposus mollis Verrill. — Webbed devil-fish. 



Alloposus mollis Verrill, Amer. Journ. Sci., xx, p. 394, Nov., 1880; Proc. Nat. 

 Mus., iii, p. 363, 1880; Trans. Conn. Acad., v, p. 366, pi. 50, figs. 1, la, 2,2a; 

 pi. 51, figs. 3, 4; Bulletin Mus. Comp. Zool., viii, p. 113, pi. 4, figs. 3, 4; pL 

 8, figs. l-2a, March, 1881. 

 Octopusf, sp., Verrill, Bulletin Mus. Comp. Zool., p. 109, pi. 4, fig. 3, 1881. 



Plate XXXEX, figs. 1, la, 2, 2a. Plate XLII, fig. 7. Plate XLIV, fig. 1. 



Body stout, ovate, very soft and flabby. Head large, as broad as the 

 body; eyes large, their openings small. Arms rather stout, not very 

 long, webbed nearly to the ends, the dorsal much longer than the ven- 

 tral arms; suckers large, simple, in two alternating rows. Color deep 

 purplish brown, with a more or less distinctly spotted appearance. To- 

 tal length of a medium-sized specimen, 160 mm ; of body, to base of arms, 

 90mm. of mantle, beneath, 50 mm ; of dorsal arms, 70 mm ; breadth of body 

 70 mm . Other specimens are very much larger. 



This season two very large females, nearly equal in size, were taken : 

 one at station 937, in 506 fathoms ; the other at 994, in 368 fathoms. 

 The former weighed over 20 pounds. Length, while fresh, posterior 

 end of body to tip of 1st pair of arms, 787 mm (31 inches) ; of 2d pair, 

 8i2mm (32 inches) ; of 3d pair, 711 mra (28 inches) ; of 4th pair, 711 n,m (28 

 inches) ; length of mantle, beneath, 178 mm (7 inches); beak to end of 4th 

 pair of arms, 559 mm (22 inches) ; breadth of body, 216 mm (8.5 inches) ; 

 breadth of head, 280 mm (11 inches); diameter of eye, 64 mm (2.5 inches); 

 of largest suckers, 10 mm (.38 of an inch). The body was remarkably soft 

 and gelatinous in appearance, and to the touch, while living. In fact 

 it did not have sufficient firmness to retain its natural shape when out 

 of water, and when placed in a large pan it accommodated itself to the 

 shape of the vessel, like a mass of stiff jelly. Color, in life, pale bluish 

 white specked with rusty orange-brown chromatophores; inner surface 

 of arms dark purplish brown, suckers white. 



One mature, detached, hectocotylized arm (Plate XLIV, fig. 1) was 

 taken November 16. This has two rows of large, six- or seven -lobed 

 suckers, a very long fringe, composed of thin, flat, lacerate processes, 

 along each side; the terminal process is fusiform, acute, and loosely 

 covered with a thin, translucent membrane, beneath which the inner 

 surface, bearing chromatophores, can be seen. Length of this arm, 

 200 mm ; its breadth, 20 mm ; length of terminal process, 30 mm ; its diameter, 

 7 mm ; diameter of largest suckers, 6 mm ; length of fringe, 15 mm . 



Two detached and somewhat mutilated arms, with portions of a third 

 arm and of the basal web, of a large Octopod, probably of this species, 



