AND THE MALES OF CERTAIN CEPHALOPODS. 131 



Colour. During life and in a state of rest the dorsal part of 

 the animal is of a semi-transparent white colour, strongly shaded 

 with blue ; the inferior portion is white and very iridescent ; the 

 lateral parts of the body, of the head, of the dorsal portion of 

 the inferior and latero-inferior arms, and the iris shine with a 

 silvery lustre ; the internal portion of the arms is of a pale rosy 

 colour. In this state the dorsal portion is covered with micro- 

 scopical chromatophora, and with others which are larger and 

 regularly diffused, of a blue or violet colour ; upon the lower 

 portion of the body the chromatophora are disposed in the same 

 manner, but their colour is violet passing into reddish yellow. 

 The dorsal part of the body, of the head, and of the arms of 

 the first pair assumes sometimes a very brilliant ultramarine 

 colour, shaded with purple ; sometimes this passes into a very 

 dark velvety violet ; the lower parts and the extremities of the 

 arms are then coloured reddish yellow. Three different colours 

 are often seen upon the back at the same time, and it is clouded 

 with white, azure, rose-violet, yellow, and an infinity of dazzling 

 shades produced by the mixture of these tints. Irritated, or in 

 full vigour out of water, the animal covers itself wholly with 

 reddish yellow chromatophora, but the dorsal portion is always 

 strongly shaded with blue. Plunged in spirit, the skin of the lower 

 partof the body becomes very finely reticulated, in consequence of 

 the wrinkles formed by the subcutaneous granulated tubercles. 



The male Tremoctopus Carena cannot be confounded with any 

 of the known species ; the proportions of the arms, and, above 

 all, of the hectocotyliform arms, clearly distinguish it. The 

 female closely approaches the reticulated Tremoctopus (T. cate- 

 nulatus, Ver.), but the arms of T. Carena are much longer in 

 proportion to the body, and the second and third pairs of its 

 arms are comparatively shorter and less disproportionate to one 

 another in size. The body is oval, while it is ovoid in T. cate- 

 nulatus ; finally, the tubercles are proportionally much smaller, 

 more approximated and more numerous in T. Carena. 



This Cephalopod appears only accidentally upon our coasts, 

 perhaps, as M. d'Orbigny thinks with regard to all the Philo- 

 nexida, because it is pelagic; we have, however, met with it in 

 all seasons, in February, April, September and December, which 

 proves to us that it is a denizen of our latitudes. It is always 



9* 



