AND THE MALES OF CERTAIN CEPHALOPODS. 



sac, saw the white thread which terminates the Hectocotylus 

 make its exit, like that of the Argonaut. M. Verany drew the 

 following conclusions from these observations: " The Hectocotylus 

 of the Octopus is only a caducous arm of the Cephalopod ; this 

 arm carries the male organs, and in all probability these organs 

 are periodically developed. The Hectocotyli of the Argonaut and 

 of the Tremoctopus differ from that of the Octopus. The Hecto- 

 cotyli of the Argonaut and of the Tremoctopus cannot be the 

 arms of the Octopus which carries them, since they are infinitely 

 smaller, and since, so far as I am aware, these Cephalopods 

 have never been found with an arm wanting." 



Dr. H. Miiller of Wurzburg visited the coasts of Sicily in 

 1850, with the intention of studying these contradictory facts. 

 He communicated orally to one of us during his passage to 

 Genoa, that having one day met with a very small Argonaut 

 carrying a vesicle, lie had taken this individual for an embryo 

 still retaining its umbilical vesicle, but that on counting the 

 arms he observed there w r ere only seven, and that the eighth 

 was replaced by this vesicle carried upon a little pedicle. Calling 

 to mind the facts observed in the Octopus, Dr. H. Miiller exa- 

 mined the animal which had come into his possession, and 

 found that this little creature which he had taken for an embryo 

 was in fact the perfect male of the Argonaut, and that the 

 Hectocotylus was hidden within the pedunculated vesicle. We 

 still await the publication of the observations collected by 

 Dr. Miiller. 



As the foregoing extracts show, science has been loaded with a 

 number of observations and opinions but little concordant with 

 one another. Very desirous of obtaining a positive solution of 

 a question which appeared to us to possess the highest interest, 

 we united our efforts to procure a sufficiency of materials, and 

 to study them during life. Fishermen were instructed by the 

 one of us who could best make himself understood in the patois 

 of the country, and the Cephalopods brought to the market in 

 Nice were carefully scrutinized each day. The specimens, which 

 were very rare, of Argonauts and Tremoctopods which fell into 

 our hands, were the object of our minute but fruitless investi- 

 gations. We could not find a single Hectocotylus, although one 

 of us during a residence of two years at Nice examined seven 

 Argonauts and three females of Tremoctopus violaceus. 



