A. K Verrill — North American Cephcdopods. 1 95 



Histioteuthis CoUinsii Verriii. 



Ill addition to the foregoing examples, all of which are believed to 

 be referable to the genus Architevthis, I have in a former article* 

 described a very remarkable squid, belonging to the genus Hlstioteu- 

 t/iis, in which a broad thin membrane or 'web' unites the six uj^per 

 arms together, nearly to their tips, while the lower ones have a 

 shorter web uniting them to the rest. Although small, when con- 

 trasted with some of the gigantic specimens of Architeuthis, it is 

 considerably larger than any of the common small squids, and as it 

 inhabits the same localities with Architeuthis, and has some points of 

 resemblance to the latter genus, especially in having the smooth- 

 rimmed suckers for uniting together the long tentacular-arms, I have 

 thought it best to describe it in this part of my article, in connection 

 with the species of Architeuthis. The only specimen known was 

 obtained (with No. 20) from the stomach of a large and voracious fish 

 [Alepldosaurus ferox), having a formidable array of long sharp 

 teeth, eminently adapted for the capture of such prey. It was taken 

 by Captain J, W. Collins and crew of the schooner Marion, in deep 

 water off the coast of Nova Scotia, and presented to the U. S. Fish 

 Commission. This species {H. CoUinsii) is figured on Plate XXII, 

 and will l)e described farther on. 



Onychoteuthis robusta (Daii, Mss.). 



In this connection I may also refer to a gigantic Pacific Ocean 

 species, obtained by Mr. W. H. Dall, on the coast of Alaska, in 1872, 

 which will be described as fully as possible in another part of this 

 article, when discussing the foreign species of large Cephalopods, 

 (see Plates XXIII and XXIV.) Three specimens were observed 

 and measured by Mr. Dall. The largest measured, from the base of 

 the arms to the end of the body, 8-5 feet. The ends of all the arms 

 had been destroyed, in all the specimens. It was formerlyf briefly 

 described by me under Mr. Dall's MSS. name, Omniastrephes robustus, 

 but a more careful study of the parts preserved, especially the 'cone' 

 of the ' pen' and the odontophore, has convinced me that it belongs 

 to the genus Onychoteuthis, characterized especially by having rows 

 of sharp claws or hooks on the ' club' of the tentacular-arms, instead 

 of suckers. All the species of this genus previously known are of 

 small size, and pelagic in their habits. It is, therefore, of especial 

 interest to add another generic type to the list of gigantic species. 



♦American Journal of Science, vol. xvii, p. 241, 1879. 

 f American Journal of Science, vol. xii, p. 236, 1876. 



