124 Mr. A. G. More on a Gigantic Squid, 



to show that our present specimen is quite distinct from the 

 American Megaloteuthis Harveyi (Kent), which is described 

 as having minute suckers on the margin of the tentacular 

 club. The closely packed small suckers in six rows just 

 below the main suckers of the palm offer another distinctive 

 character, as do also the few small sessile suckers which are 

 scattered along the length of the otherwise smooth peduncle 

 in our specimen. 



The following few particulars may be worth placing on 

 record : — 



Tentacles 30 feet long when fresh (14 and 17 feet can still 

 be made up from the pickled pieces). A few distant, small, 

 and nearly sessile suckers occur at long intervals along the 

 inner surface of the peduncle. The club, measuring 2 feet 

 9 inches in its present shrunken state, is occupied in the centre 

 of the palm by two rows of large stalked suckers nearly 1 inch 

 in diameter, fourteen in each row ; an alternating row of 

 fourteen smaller suckers {\ an inch in diameter) occupies the 

 margin on each side of the palm : thus there are twenty- 

 eight large 1-inch suckers in the middle, and the same number 

 of \ -inch suckers along the outside edge. These outer suckers 

 are each armed with a denticulated bony ring of some twenty- 

 eight teeth pointing inwards ; and no doubt the large inner 

 suckers were similarly furnished ; but their rings had fallen 

 out or had been removed before the specimens were examined. 

 Just beneath where the large suckers end there occurs a 

 cluster of small suckers, -^ of an inch in diameter ; and these 

 are arranged closely in six transverse rows for about 5 inches 

 along the now narrowing wrist of the club ; only a few of 

 the uppermost of these are furnished with denticulate rings ; 

 the greater number, like the few small suckers of the peduncle, 

 are sustained by rings with an entire or smooth edge. Above 

 the large suckers of the palm the club tapers upwards, and 

 is again clothed with a great number of small and apparently 

 smooth-ringed suckers. 



The short arm is quite spoiled for examination : all • the 

 horny rings are gone ; and the suckers themselves are scarcely 

 represented. This arm measured 8 feet in length, and 15 inches 

 round the base, when fresh. 



The beak has a strong wide tooth about the middle of the 

 edge of the inner mandible, and a much narrower notch on 

 the outer mandible, on each side. The head and eyes were 

 unfortunately lost. 



Museum of Koyal Dublin Society, 

 July 3, 1875. 



