A. E. Verrill — North American Cephalopods. 181 



General account of the several sj^ecinieiis, and of their occurrence. 



No. 1.— Grand Banks specimen, 1871. {ArcUteutUs imnceps.) 



Plate XVIII, figure 3. 

 This specimen was ibund floating at the surface, on the Grand 

 Banks of Newfoimdland, in October, 1871, by Captain Campbell, of 

 the schooner " B. D. Ilaskins," of Gloxicester, Mass. It was taken on 

 board and part of it used for bait.* Dr. A. S. Packard has given, in 

 the American Naturalist, vol. vii, p. 91, Feb., 1873, the facts that 

 have been published in regard to the history of this individual. But 

 its jaws were sent to the Smithsonian Institution, and were sent to 

 me by Professor Baird to be described and figured. The horny jaAv 

 or beak from this specimen is thick and sti'ong, nearly black; it is 

 acute at the apex, with a decided notch or angle on the inside, about 

 •75 of an inch from the point, and beyond the notch is a large promi- 

 nent angular lobe. The body of the specimen from which this jaw 

 was taken is stated to have measured 15 feet in length and 4 feet 8 

 inches in circumference. The arms were mutilated, but the portions 

 remaining were estimated to be 9 or 10 feet long, and 22 inches in 

 circumference, two being shorter than the rest. It was estimated to 

 weigh 2000 pounds. 



No. 2.— Conception Bay specimen, 1873. [A. Harveyif.) 



A large individual attacked two men, who were in a small boat, in 

 Conception Bay, October 27, 1873. Two of the arms, which it threw 

 across the boat, w^ere cut ofi" with a hatchet, and brought ashore. 

 Full accounts of this adventure, written by Rev, M. Harvey, have 

 been published in many of the magazines and uewspapers.f A por- 

 tion of one of these arms, measuring 19 feet in length, was preserved 

 by Rev. M. Harvey and Mr. Alexander Muriay for the museum at 



* I have been informed by many other fishermen that these ' big squids,' as they 

 call them, are occasionally taken on the Grand Banks and used for bait. Others state 

 that they have seen them in that region, without being able to capture them. Nearly 

 all the specimens hitherto taken appear to have been more or less disabled when first 

 observed, otherwise they probably would not appear at the surface in the day-time. 

 From the fact that they have mostly come ashore in the uiglit, I infer that they inhabit 

 chiefly the very deep and cold fiords of Newfoundland and come up to the siirftice only 

 iu the night. 



f See Amer. Jour. Science, vol. vii, p. 158, 1874; and American Naturalist, vol. viii, 

 No. 2, p. 120. Feb.. 1874, in a letter from Mr. Alexander Murray. Also, Proc. Zool. 

 Sec. Lond., p. 178, 1S74. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., xvi, p. 161, 1873. 



