OMMASTREPHES. 235 



of fin, seven inches and a quarter; breadth of body, three 

 inches and a-half ; diameter of largest ring of a tentacle, 

 three-tenths of an inch ; length of pen, eleven inches and 

 three-quarters ; its breadth half an inch. 



Dr. Johnston observes of this species, that its ink is of 

 a blackish brown colour, or dark olive green. He found 

 the stomach of a large specimen filled with fragments of 

 Alaria esciilenta^ on which the creature had been feeding 

 when taken, for pieces of this weed were found between 

 the beak, half swallowed. Verany states, that its flesh is 

 bitter, leathery, and unwholesome. 



It is difficult to ascertain exactly whether any other 

 than this species is commonly called sagittaia in local lists. 

 It would appear, however, to be distributed around the 

 three kingdoms. Mr. Alder has determined its presence 

 on the coast of Northumberland; Dr. Johnston at Berwick- 

 on-Tweed ; we have taken it in the Frith of Forth (E. F.) ; 

 and an Irish example, from Youghall, taken by Dr. Ball, 

 who states that this form is most common, is unquestion- 

 ably todarns, but varies in having shorter tentacles than 

 usual. It has been made the subject of an elaborate 

 memoir, on the anatomy of its nervous system, by Mr. 

 Albany Hancock. 



0. Eblan^, Ball. 



Body proportionately short ; suckers confined to the clubs of 

 the tentacles, minute and four-ranked at their extremities. 



Plate SSS. fig. 2. 



Loliyo EblancB, Ball, Proc. Eoj'al Irish Acad. vol. i. p. 463. — Thompson, Rep. 

 Brit. Assoc, for 1844, p. 248. — D'Orbigny, Moll. Viv. et 

 Foss. vol. 1. p. 353. 



This remarkable species was first found by Mr. Warren, 



