298 Zoological Societt/. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



(Feb. 23, continued.) — A paper by Mr. Owen was read, entitled, 

 " Descriptions of some new or rare Cephalopoda, collected by Mr. 

 George Bennett, Corr. Memb. Z.S." The subjects referred to in it 

 included specimens of Cranchia scabra, Leach ; a small nondescript 

 Loligo ; the head and principal viscera of a Decapodous Dibranchiate 

 Cephalopod from Port Jackson ; a small nondescript species of Octo- 

 pus ; and a very small specimen of Argonauta Mans, with its Cephalo- 

 podous inhabitant (Ocythoe Ci-anchii, Leach), and a large cluster of 

 ova : all of which were exhibited, in illustration of the communica- 

 tion, by permission of the Curators of the Museum of the Royal Col- 

 lege of Surgeons, of which collection they now form part. 



The specimen of Cranchia scabra was taken by Mr. George Ben- 

 nett in a towing net in lat. 12° 15' S., long. 10° 15' W.; and was 

 at first regarded by him as a species of Medusa : and Mr. Owen 

 observes, that from the uncommon form which this very remarkable 

 Cephalopod presents, one cannot feel surprised that it should have 

 been, at the first view, referred by its captor to a Radiate family, 

 with which the Cephalopods bear, in more than one respect, an ana- 

 logical relation. 



As the type of its genus Mr. Owen considers the Crunch, scabra 

 with reference to the generic characters that separate Cranchia from 

 the neighbouring groups : from Loligo and Onychoteuthis it is di- 

 stinguished by the continuity of its mantle with the dorsal ^ane^es 

 of the head; and from Sepioteuthis, Sepiola, and Rossia by the pro- 

 portions and position of its fins. The form of the fins alone is evi- 

 dently insufficient in Cephalopods for generic distinctions, as will 

 appear from considering the variations in this respect that occur in 

 the several species of the well-marked genus Onychoteuthis, Licht. ; 

 and also in the several species oi Loligo as at present restricted, some 

 of which, especially Lol. brevis, Blainv., make so close an approxi- 

 mation to Crunch, scabra in the rounded contour, as well as the ter- 

 minal position, of their fins, that were it not that the exterior margin 

 of the mantle is in all of them free on its dorsal aspect, the latter 

 Cephalopod, notwithstanding its singular form, could not be sepa- 

 rated generically from the Loligines on external characters alone. 

 As in the figures published by Ferussac of the Cephalopods named 

 Crunch, curdioptera by Peron and Crunch, minima by himself, the 

 anterior margin of the mantle appears to be free on its dorsal aspect, 

 similarly to that of the true Loligines, it must be doubted whether 

 these species are correctly referred to the genus Cranchia : and the 

 same doubt may perhaps be extended to Crunch. Bonelliana, Fer., 

 in the description of wliich no mention is made of the adhesion or 

 otherwise of the mantle to the posterior part of the head. This ad- 

 hesion Mr. Owen regards as an essential character of the genus. 



The specimen of Cranchia scabru on which the genus was founded 

 by Dr. Leach, having been imperfect in some of its parts, Mr. Owen 

 carefully describes the species anew from the perfect individual ob- 



