406 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [196] 



Family CIKRHOTEUTHDD^E Keff. 



Kefferstein, in Bronn, Tliier-Reicli, iii, p. 1448, 1866. 



Body somewhat elongated, furnished with a short, thick tapering fin 

 on each side, supported by an internal transverse cartilage. Mantle ex- 

 tensively united to the head. Arms united nearly to the tips by a broad 

 umbrella-shaped membrane or web. Suckers in a single row, alternating 

 with slender cirri. 



STAUROTEUTHIS Verrill. 



Amer. Journ. Sci., vol. xviii, p. 408, Dec, 1879; Trans. Conn. Acad., v, p. 382, 1881. 



Allied to GirrKo'teuthi8) but with the mantle united to the head all 

 around, and to the dorsal side of the slender siphon, which it surrounds 

 like a close collar, leaving only a very narrow opening around the base 

 of the siphon, laterally and ventrally. Fins long, triangular, in advance 

 of the middle of the body. Dorsal cartilage forming a median angle, 

 directed backward. Body flattened, soft, bordered by a membrane. 

 Eyes covered by the integument. Web not reaching the tips of the 

 arms, the edge concave in the intervals. Suckers in one row, with a 

 pair of slender cirri, alternating with them, along most of the arm. Cirri 

 absent between the basal and terminal suckers. 



Stauroteuthis syrteusis Verrill. — (Finned devil-fish.) 



Verrill, Amer. Journ. Sci., vol. xviii, p. 468, Dec, 1879; xix, p. 294, pi. 16, Apr., 

 1880; Trans. Conn. Acad., vol. v, p. 382, pi. 32, figs. 1-5, 1881. 



Plate XXXVIII, figures 1-5. 



Female : Head broad, depressed, not very distinct from the body. Eyes 

 large. Body elongated, flattened, soft or gelatinous, widest in the middle, 

 narrowed but little forward, but decidedly tapered, back of the fins, to the 

 flat, obtuse, or subtruncate tail. The sides of the head and of the body, 

 forward of the fins, are bordered by a thin soft membrane, about 12 mm 

 wide. The fins are elongated, sub-triangular, obtusely pointed, placed 

 in advance of the middle of the body, supported by internal cartilages 

 which unite with a transverse dorsal V-shaped one, situated behind the 

 fins. Siphon elongated, about 12 mm long, slender, round, with a small 

 terminal opening. Mantle-edge so contracted and thickened around the 

 base of the siphon as to show only a very small opening, and united to 

 it in the middle line anteriorly or dorsally. Eyes large, distinctly visi- 

 ble through the integument. 



Arms long, slender, sub-equal, each united to the great web by a 

 broad membrane developed on its outer side, widest (about 38 nim or 1.5 

 inches) in the middle of the arm, while the edge of the web unites di- 

 rectly to the sides of the arms and, as a border, runs along the free por- 

 tion toward the very slender tip. This arrangement gives a swollen or 

 campanulate form to the extended web. Edges of the web incurved 

 between the arms, widest between the two lateral pairs of arms. The 



