LOLIGO. 131 



irregularly arranged in 4 rows ; the suckers are largest in the 

 middle, diminishing in size towards the base, and minute at 

 the extremity : funnel or pipe large and conical : head long : 

 arms rather short and thick, curled when in a state of con- 

 traction; the largest pair is the second, on the ventral or 

 lower side ; suckers arranged in 2 irregularly alternate rows ; 

 web small and thin. L. (exc. tent.) 18-24. 



SHELL not unlike the sheath of an ear of maize ; haft occu- 

 pying about | of the total length ; extremity tapering to a 

 fine point ; midrib strong and quill-like on the haft, and gra- 

 dually lessening in size towards the other extremity or point. 

 L. 15-18. B. 1-25-1-5. 



HABITAT : Aberdeenshire to Cornwall. Its foreign 

 distribution appears to be very extensive, although it 

 is possible that other species may have been confounded 

 with it, under the names of Sepia loligo and L. vulgaris. 

 Fabricius gives Greenland, Mohr Iceland, Linne Swe- 

 den, Waardenburg Holland, Tasle Brittany, Aucapitaine 

 the Bay of Biscay, Risso and others the Mediterranean, 

 and Stossich Trieste. Steenstrup has renamed our 

 species L. Forbesii, distinguishing it from the Mediter- 

 ranean species by the comparative size of the suckers 

 on the tentacles and arms, these being equal in L. For- 

 besii, and very unequal in L. vulgaris. But Krohn has 

 shown that the female of Rossia dispar has equal-sized 

 suckers, while in the male they are unequal ; and it is 

 therefore unsafe to depend on this character. 



Lister described the anatomy of our species with his 

 usual care. "Ink jet-black" (Johnston, who also 

 mentions a cannibal habit). In the ' Speculum Mundi ' 

 it has the name of " Sea-clerk," from its having a knife, 

 pen, and ink; the Hartlepool fishermen, according to 

 Mr. Hogg, call it "ten-tails." The spawn-clusters 

 have been estimated to contain nearly 40,000 eggs. 



This was in all probability the reOflo? of Aristotle, 

 and undoubtedly the Loligo magna of Rondelet. 



