AK< III II, i l ill.. 



[(J.-nus ARCHITEUTHIS. ,,,.) 



A number of gigantic cephalopods allied to <>,,, must r>'i>h, 



* I.itliijn have been de.-crihed Mild referred. Upon con-ide ra t ion - ol' 

 Size principally, to tin- genera . I IT/I itt'iilli it, Mrt/alotr iilliia. l)inn- 

 IfUt/u'n, .}/<>!/, -/irz/ii. etc. Tllr three latter name* have not I. cm 



maintained, and are generalU allowed t<> be s\n<>nym<ns \\iih 



the first or with ( )iniiuixfri-j:/n-f. Witli regard to Ardnh nlhi.-. 

 it is s:iid to l>t' iiisullic'n-iitlv <-li;ir:ictcrixMl in ;t proof copy with 

 platt-s. of a p:ip-r entitled Spoli.-i A t hint ic;i." :ind intrnde<l to 

 In- pulili>lird in tlu- Memoirs of the Copenhagen Academy. ,")th 

 -IT., \(1. iv. ls;i;. 1 h:ivi- exMinined tliis joimml. hut <lo not 

 tind tlie papt'r included in it, and therefore suppose that the 

 pnhlication was sni.pressed. So va^ue have been the view- 



regarding this genus among those who have desrriu-d tin- spe- 

 cies, that each one has a ditl'erent idea of its cha racters. Mr. 

 A. K. X'errill. who has more carefully studied these immeii-e 

 ccplialopods than any of his contemporaries, has himself l>een 

 mislead into describing and figuring a portion of the mouth 

 lining for the tongue (see pi. fi, fig. 6), hut afterwards discovered 

 his mistake by finding tin- real odontophore. which hastheeen- 

 tial characters of Ommattf ri'/)/ii'#. It is quite probable that sonii' 

 of the vMgiu- characters given in the ell-script ions of these 

 immense animals are sexual or only individual, and that future 

 invi-stigjition will reduce the number of species. 1 prefer for 

 the piv-eiit to treat them all as a section of Um nun *t?*e]>Jn j .-<. and 

 will here enumerate the distinctive characters as far a> ascer- 

 tained: the popular descript ions of t hem may be found in the 

 first part of this work (p. 74. rf ,sr</. ) 



(). HOWS-ITS. Dall. 



Three specimens discovered on the coast of Alaska. l>\ Mr. 

 \V. H. Dall. in i*7-j. lit- preserved portions of one of them. 



The l.-irgi-st specimen had a total length of 14 feet, lull the end- 

 of the tentacle- had been destroyed; length from tail to root 

 of arm>. !<>:> inche.-; to front edge of mantle. 11'."> indie-; 

 width aero-- tin-. \~2 inches; diameter of b.d \ . Is indie- ; 

 -lender portion of tentacular arms remaining. ''' iuche- ; diame- 

 ter. -J\") inches; shorter arms (end- and -iickcr- gom-i. :!( to In 

 inches; diameter of eyes, 1"J." inches; length of pen. s'.i in<-ln--. 



