Mr W. E. Hoyle on Loligo Forbesii, Steenstrup. 461 



sold to the line fishermen for bait. It is, I am told, no 

 uncommon thing for two or three hundred to be captured 

 at once. The autumn appears to be the season of the 

 greatest abundance, but seeing that the spawn is very 

 commonly taken in the spring also, it can hardly be that 

 they approach our shores at that period for the purpose of 

 depositing it. 



The males are more common than the females, — indeed, 

 at the time of writing the paper above quoted. Professor 

 Steenstrup had not seen the latter. Of nine specimens in 

 my possession, seven are males and two females. 



Whether the true Loligo vulgaris occurs on the British 

 coast, I cannot say from my own observation ; and owing to 

 the confusion which exists in the nomenclature of the sub- 

 ject, it is impossible to ascertain from the descriptions of 

 others. 



In conclusion, I append a synonymy of the species and a 

 tabular statement of its differences from the typical L. 

 vulgaris. 



Loligo Forhesii, Steenstrup. 



1758. Loligo , Borlase (?), Nat. Hist. Cornwall, p. 260, pi. xxv., fig. 



xxvii., Oxford.^ 



1853. ,, vulgaris, Forbes and Hanley, Brit. Moll., vol. iv,, p. 226, 



vol. i., pi. LLL. 



1854. ,, sp. , Stp. , Foredrag om Somunken. 



1856. „ Forbesii, Stp., K. dansk. Yid. Selsk. Skr., Rk. 5, Bd. iv., p. 189. 

 1858. „ magna, Adams, H. and A., Gen, Rec. Moll., pi. iv., fig. 3. 

 1860. ,, Forbesii, Malm, Nya fiskar, etc., Gotheborg Handl., viii., p. 



132. 

 1869. ,, ,, Fischer, Journ. Conch., s^r, 3, t. ix., pp. 128-130. 



1869. ,, vulgaris, Jeffreys, Brit. Conch., vol. v., p. 130, pi. v., fig. 2. 

 1869. ,, Forbesii, Targioni-Tozzetti, Comment. Cefalop. Medit, Bull. 



malacol. ital., ann. ii., pp. 33, 35 (sep. cOp)'). 

 1872. ,, ,, Fischer, Journ. Conch., ser. 3, t. xii., p. 23. 



1879. „ ,, Tryon, Man. Conch., vol. i., p. 147. 



Habitat. — Firth of Forth ; North Sea and coasts of Great Britain ; Oceanic 

 coasts of France ; Scandinavia. 



1 Gray (Brit. Mus. Cat., p. 70, 1849) gives this reference as Loligo Biscale, 

 p. 226, but indicating the same figure ; I give it as I found it in the copy 

 in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. 



