336 On Loligo media {L.). 



LIT. — A Note on Loligo media {L.). By Anne L. Massy, 

 Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for 

 Ireland, Fisheries Branch, Dublin. 



I HAVE carefully examined the tentacular suckers in examples 

 of this species, of both sexes, from the east and west coasts of 

 Ireland, and find them in all cases to be plentifully armed 

 with teeth. In this respect they differ from the diagnosis 

 given by Hoyle *, who agrees with Jatta in saying that the 

 horny ring of the tentacular suckers is perfectly smooth f. 

 Dr. Allen and Mr. Todd, of the Marine Biological Associa- 

 tion, have kindly sent me specimens from Plymouth and 

 from off the coast of Lincolnshire. These also have toothed 

 tentacular suckers. Through the courtesy of the Director of 

 the Zoological Station at Naples 1 have been enabled to 

 examine one of the sj)ecimens used by the late Dr. Jatta in 

 his description of the species. It agrees, in the presence of 

 teeth on the tentacular suckers, with the English and Irish 

 examples mentioned above. 



The specimens from off Trusthorpe, Lincolnshire, are the 

 largest, and therefore offer the greatest facility for minute 

 examination of the suckers. Each sucker appears to have 

 about twenty-four large pointed teeth, with here and there a 

 minute conical tooth between two large ones. The points of 

 the large teeth are in many cases broken off. 



Several authors have suspected that L. marmorce % was the 

 female of L. media. Having read Joubin's paper in support 

 of this view, 1 separated all the individuals in our collection 

 having fins more or less in the position typical of L. mar- 

 morce, and found them to be female, with two exceptions. 

 I'he latter were very young males, and obviously their youth 

 accounted for the position of their fins. All those with 

 lengthened extremity proved to be without exception male. 



* " Notes from the Maucliester Museum. — No. 9. Britisli Cephalopoda ; 

 their Nomenclatme and Identification." P. 203: " Suckers of tentacular 

 arms with a smooth ring — Loligo media.''^ 



t ' I Cephalopodi viventi nel Golfo di Napoli.' P. 186 : " L'annello 

 corneo delle veutose tentacolari e in tutto il suo ambito egualmente 

 sviluppato liscio perfettamente sopra il margine lihero." 



X Bull. Soc. scient. medic, de I'ouest, Rennes, xi. 1902 : " Quelques 

 observations sur Loligo inedia," 



