ARCHITEUTH1S. 183 



[Genus ARCHITEUTHIS, Steenstrup.J 



A number of gigantic cephalopods allied to Ommastrephes or 

 Loligo have been described and referred, upon considerations of 

 size principally, to the genera Architeuthis, Megaloteuthis, Dino- 

 teuthis, Mouchezia, etc. The three latter names have not been 

 maintained, and are generallj* allowed to be synonymous with 

 the first or with Ommastrephes. With regard to Arcliiteuthis, 

 it is said to be insufficient!} 7 characterized in a proof cop}^ with 

 plates, of a paper entitled " Spolia Atlantica," and intended to 

 be published in the Memoirs of the Copenhagen Academy, 5th 

 ser., vol. iv, 1856. I have examined this journal, but do not 

 find the paper included in it, and therefore suppose that the 

 publication was suppressed. So vague have been the views 

 regarding this genus among those who have described the spe- 

 cies, that each one has a different idea of its characters. Mr. 

 A. E. Verrill, who has more carefully studied these immense 

 cephalopods than any of his contemporaries, has himself been 

 mislead into describing and figuring a portion of the mouth 

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

 his mistake by finding the real odontophore, which has the essen- 

 tial characters of Ommastrephes. It is quite probable that some 

 of the vague characters given in the descriptions of these 

 immense animals are sexual or only individual, aud that future 

 investigation will reduce the number of species. I prefer toi- 

 l-he present to treat them all as a section of Ommastrephes. mid 

 will here enumerate the distinctive characters as far as ascer- 

 tained : the popular descriptions of them may be found in the 

 first part of this work (p. 74. et seq.). 



O. ROBUSTUS. Ball. 



Three specimens discovered on the coast of Alaska, by Mr. 

 W. H. Dall, in 1872. He preserved portions of one of them. 

 The largest specimen had a total length of 14 feet, but i he ends 

 of the tentacles had been destroyed ; length from tail to root 

 of arms, 102 inches; to front edge of mantle, ( .)l'o inches; 

 width across fins, 42 inches; diameter of body, 18 inches; 

 slender portion of tentacular arms remaining, 61 inches ; diame- 

 ter, 2*5 inches; shorter arms (ends and suckers gone), 30 to 40 

 inches; diameter of eyes. 1*25 inches; length of pen, 89 inches. 



