424 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [214] 



Brachioteuthis Beanii Verrill. 



Trans. Conn. Acad., v, p. 406, pi. 55, figs. 3-3 b ; pi. 56, figs. 2, 2a, Nov., 1831. 

 Plate XLV, figs. 3-36. Plate XLVI, figs. 2, 2a. 



Male: Body rather small, tapering backward to an acute posterior 

 end; dorsal mantle-edge with a broad obtuse angle; caudal fin large in 

 proportion to the body, broad rhoinboidal; outer angles prominent, 

 anterior to the middle; the anterior lobes project forward considerably 

 beyond the insertions, and are rounded. The form of the fin is much 

 like that of OmmastrepJies. Head thickened at the bases of the arms, 

 not so large in proportion to the body as in G. lacertosa. Eyes large, 

 eye-lids thin. Siphon large, with two strong dorsal bridles ; internal 

 valve broad, rounded, somewhat back from the orifice; connective car- 

 tillages long-ovate, broadest behind (fig. 2a); dorsal cartilage of neck 

 oblong, with a strong median ridge and two deep parallel grooves. 

 Lateral cartilages of mantle (fig. 2) are simple linear ridges, extending to 

 the edge of the mantle. Arms not very large, somewhat rounded, long 

 and slender; the dorsal ones are much smaller and shorter than the others; 

 two lateral pairs nearly equal in size and length, more than two-thirds 

 the length of the mantle. Ventral arms shorter and much more slender 

 than the lateral, more than half the length of the mantle; the ventral 

 arms show but little of the compressed, oblique form, so conspicuous in 

 the preceding species, and the crest or fold of skin along the outer- 

 ventral angle is narrow, thin, and not very conspicuous; the suckers on 

 the ventral arms are in two alternating, not distant rows, often appear- 

 ing almost as if in one row toward the base, where they become smaller, 

 but are of the normal cup-shaped form, with finely denticulate rings and 

 slender pedicels; the tips of both ventral arms are much injured, but 

 small, normal, long pediceled suckers can be traced to the tip of the left 

 arm; the right arm is denuded of its skin and suckers at the tip. The 

 suckers of the four lateral arms are in two rather close rows, larger, 

 oblique, low cup-shaped, attached by slender pedicels, which are some- 

 what swollen just below the suckers; most of them have lost their 

 horny rings; marginal membranes rudimentary. Web between the 

 arms rudimentary. 



Tentacular arms very long and slender, in alcohol about twice the 

 length of the mantle; a few scattered sessile suckers are found along 

 the whole length of the arms; tentacular club well-developed, long- 

 ovate, oblique, with a thick wrist and flat or concave sucker-bearing 

 face; suckers small and very numerous, crowdedly arranged in many 

 rows (probably sixteen rows or more), some of the middle ones larger 

 than the rest; suckers not well preserved, but all appear to have been 

 alike in form; pedicels long and slender, with a smooth and not very 

 large swelling below the base of the sucker; the suckers have lost their 

 horny rims, but the sheaths are shaped much like those of C. lacertosa, 

 the distal portion being hood-shaped, with a lateral opening, while the 

 basal part is swollen laterally. The tip of the club is simple, without 



