126 VERANY AND VOGT ON THE HECTOCOTYLI 



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the chromatophora, and the muscular tube of the Hectocotyli, are 

 constructed in exactly the same manner as the corresponding 

 portions of the Cephalopods, and that they are met with exclu- 

 sively among the latter animals. The presence of arteries and 

 veins, of a heart, and of branchiae, as well as the histological ele- 

 ments, are clearly opposed to the union of the Hectocotyli with 

 the intestinal worms. Lastly, M. Kolliker relies upon the ob- 

 servations of Madame Power and of M. Maravigno at Catania, 

 from which it would result that the Hectocotyli are formed as 

 such in the egg, and that they then resemble a little worm, pro- 

 vided in its whole length with two series of suckers, with a fili- 

 form appendage at one of its extremities, and a little enlarge- 

 ment towards the other. From all this M. Kolliker concludes 

 that the Hectocotyli are perfect animals ; and M. von Siebold has 

 completely adopted this view, although this conscientious ob- 

 server was able to discover neither the intestine nor the heart 

 pointed out by M. Kolliker essential organs, however, upon 

 whose existence depends in great measure the opinion of these 

 two naturalists. 



In the meanwhile one of us had been employed in collecting, 

 for many years past, materials which promised another solution 

 of the problem. In his work upon the Cephalopoda of the 

 Mediterranean, M. Verany relates, p. 128, that in 1836 he met 

 with an Octopus., the description of which he published under 

 the name of Octopus Carena. The captured individual possessed, 

 instead of the right arm of the third pair, a vesicle seated upon 

 a little pedicle provided with some acetabula. Upon many 

 individuals collected after this period M. Verany observed, as of 

 constant occurrence, that this same arm was always abnormally 

 developed, and that most frequently the pedicle carried instead 

 of a vesicle, a very large arm terminated by an oval globe, and 

 having the form of the Hectocotylus of Cuvier. Our friend 

 F. de Filippi, Professor at Turin, did in fact recognize this 

 arm to be the Hectocotylus ', M. Verany having submitted to 

 MM. Filippi and Leydig (of Wurzburg), the latter a pupil of 

 M. Kolliker, a specimen of T. Carena preserved in spirits of 

 wine ; this arm became detached by the least force, leaving a 

 perfectly clean surface, whilst another arm could only be torn 

 off by violence. The observers having opened the little terminal 



