182 A. E. Yerrill — North American Cephalopods. 



St. Jolin's, Nc'wfoiindlancl. It was photographed, and cuts copied 

 from the photograph were published in some of the English maga- 

 zines.* Before it was secured for preservation it had been consider 

 ably injured, many of the larger suckers having been torn off or 

 mutilated. Owing to this fact they were originally described by Mr. 

 Harvey as destitute of marginal denticulations, but he subsequently 

 reexamined the specimen, at my request, and informed me that they 

 were all originally denticulated. Of this specimen I have seen only the 

 photograph and some of the smaller suckers. This fragment represents 

 the distal half of one of the long tentacular-arms, with its expanded ter- 

 minal portion or " club," originally covered with cup-shaped suckers, 

 about 24 of which, forming two central rows, are very large, the largest 

 being 1'25 inches in diameter; others, alternating with these along 

 each margin, are smaller, with the edge supported by a serrated ring. 

 The tip of the arm is covered with numerous smaller suckers, in four 

 rows. The part of the arm preserved measured, when fresh, 19 feet 

 in length, and 3*5 inches in circumference, but wider, "like an oar," 

 and 6 inches in circumference, near the end, where the suckers are 

 situated. 



It is stated that six feet of this arm had been destroyed before it 

 was preserved, and the captors estimated that they left from six to 

 ten feet attached to the creature, Avhicli would make the total length 

 between 31 and 35 feet. According to Mr. Murray, the portion pre- 

 served measured but 17 feet in length, when he examined it, Oct. 

 31, 1873, after it had been a few days in strong brine. The other arm 

 was destroyed and no description was made; but the portion secured 

 was estimated by the fishermen to have been 6 feet long and 10 

 inches in diameter; it was evidently one of the eight shorter sessile 

 arms, and its size was probably overestimated. The fishermen esti- 

 mated the body of this individual to have been about 60 feet in length 

 and 5 feet in diameter ; but if the proportions be about the same as 

 in the specimens since captured, (No. 5 and No. 14), as I believe, 

 then the body could not have been more than about 10 feet long, and 

 2'o feet in diameter, and the long arms should have been about 32 

 feet in length. f Allowing two feet for the head, the total length 

 would, therefore, be about 44 feet. 



* See Annals and Magazine of Natural History, IV, xiii, p. 68, Jan., IST-l; and 

 "Tho Field," Dec. 13, 1873. The central line of this photograph is reduced four and 

 a quarter times, while the front part is reduced about four times. 



f Doubtless these long arms are very contractile, and changeable in length, like 

 those of the ordinary squids. 



