A. E. Verrill — Xortli American (Jephalopods. .SYO 



Octopus obeSUS Vemll. 



Verrill, American Jour. Sci., vol. xix, p. 137, Feb., 1880; vol. xix, p. 294, Apr., 

 1880. 



Plate XXXVI. figttres 3, 3«. $ . 



Male : Remarkable for the great size of the spoon-shaped organ of 

 the right arm of the third pair. Body relatively large, stout, oblong- 

 oval, somewhat flattened above, obtusely rounded at the posterior 

 end; soft and somewhat gelatinous in texture; skin, so far as pi*e- 

 served, smooth, soft. No cirrus exists above the eye, in our specimen, 

 but the skin is not so well preserved in that region as to render it 

 certain that a small one may not have existed in life. Eyes very large. 



Arms modei'ately long, the dorsal longest, others successively 

 shorter; all somewhat laterally compressed at base, tapering to long, 

 slender tips ; a moderately developed web connects them together at 

 base. The hectocotylized arm (third of right side), bears at the end 

 a very large, broad and thick, but not veiy deep, spoon-like organ, 

 occupying more than a third of the total length of the arm ; its 

 inner surface is crossed by eleven oblique, thick, rounded folds or 

 ribs, ten of them converging backward to the median line and at 

 their outer ends joining a marginal thickening. The distal end ter- 

 minates in a median, pointed lobe, or tip, with a thin, rounded, lateral 

 lobe each side of it ; the proximal border is formed by the last (elev- 

 enth) fold, which is V-shaped, with the apex pointing distally. A 

 broad, thin, marginal membrane extends along the lower side of the 

 arm, from the terminal organ to the base. The suckers have been 

 partly detached from this arm. 



The suckers of all the arms are moderately large, nearly globular 

 in form, rather numerous ; the first six to ten, at the base, are nearly 

 in one line, except on the left arm of the second pair, and appear to 

 form only a single row ; in this part the inner face of the arm is nar- 

 I'ow, most so on the right arm of the second pair, and least on the 

 left arm of the same pair ; farther out this face becomes broader and 

 the suckers are in two distinct rows. The suckers are destroyed on 

 the distal poi'tion of all the arms. 



The color of the body and arms is mostly destroyed, but so far as 

 preserved, is pale pinkish, more or less thickly specked with distinct 

 reddish brown spots, most conspicuous at the base of the arms and 

 above the eyes, (elsewhere the color is probably not so well pre- 

 served). 



Length of body, from the posterior end to the base of arms, 82'"'" ; 

 to center of eye, 72 ; to edge of mantle, beneath, 49 ; to tip of right 



Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. V. 45 August, 1881, 



