156 SKPJOLA. 



crowded and four-ranked on their tips in the female ; tentacles 

 A r ery long in the male, much shorter in the female. Shell with 

 thickened margin. Length, 2 to 3 inches. 



S. Rondeleti, Orb., is the male of this species, and I include 

 here also S. major of Targioni-Tozzetti, as I cannot tind dis- 

 tinctive characters of sufficient importance to separate three 

 Mediterranean species, as the Italian author has done. 



Mr. Alder says of it : ''This is an odd fish, crouching gen- 

 erally at the bottom like a toad, with its great goggle-eyes half 

 closed, and sometimes crawling along by means of its suckers, 

 puffing the water through the funnel all the time. When it does 

 take to smimming, it darts very quickly through the water, and 

 is difficult to catch. When taken out of the water and placed 

 on the hand, it had recourse to an odd mode of progression, 

 turning two or three somersets in tumbler-fashion, first Ia3^ing 

 hold with its arms, turning over, and laying hold again until it 

 managed to get back into the water." It is said, b^y Mr. Gosse, 

 to burrow in the sand by blowing through its funnel, and using 

 its arms, with their suckers, to remove small stones and gravel. 

 They spawn towards the end of May or beginning of June. 

 The eggs are arranged in the centre of a bluish gelatinous mass, 

 as if around an axis, and fifteen to thirty of these masses, each 

 containing from forty to. one hundred and thirty eggs, are united, 

 each by a basal stalk, to form a group attached upon some sub- 

 marine body. The fry is hatched in twenty-two to twenty-five 

 days They visit the Algerine coast in numerous troups during 

 the month of May, for the purpose of spawning. In the Medi- 

 terranean it is found at depths of 60 to 200 metres, where it lives 

 in company with the Eledones. Largely consumed as food in 

 Italy ; it is much esteemed for the delicacy of its flesh. 



All European Seas. 



S. OWENIANA, P'er. and Orb. PI. 66, fig. 238. 



Body elongate, ovate, rather pointed behind ; fins ven^ small, 

 far apart, nearly circular ; sessile arms elongate, slender, subu- 

 late, unequal, order of length 2, 3, 4, 1 ; tentacles very long and 

 very slender, club small, crowded with minute cups. 



Length, about 4 inches. 



Habitat, Viti Isles. \ Mus. Acacl., Phila.j 



