118 MR. W. E. HOYLE ON THE [ Mar. 5, 
between their bases. In two cases parts of the trunk were pre- 
served, but in no instance was there anything like a complete 
Specimen. In consequence, I have been unable to give any account 
of several organs, and my descriptions of others are lamentably incom- 
plete ; but it seemed better on the whole, in view of the rarity of this 
species, of its unique external characters, and of our almost entire 
ignorance as to its anatomy, to utilize the material at hand and 
endeavour to throw light upon the somewhat obscure relationships 
of this remarkable form. 
It is perhaps worth while to mention the order in which the 
digestive process seems to attack the various parts of the body. The 
cuticle very soon disappears, then the fin becomes detached, and the 
posterior end of the pen is dissolved, being probably of a softer 
consistency than the shaft. Then most of the hooks and suckers 
become detached, and the tentacular clubs lose the greater part of 
their armature. The digestive organs and genital glands disappear, 
and the gills become disorganized, the circulatory organs persisting 
longer. The head with its attached arms then separates from the 
body. The nervous tissues are very persistent. The last portions of 
the body to remain are the mandibles and the lenses of the eyes, 
which often occur in the stomachs of Cetacea in considerabie numbers. 
Regarding the external description and history of this Cephalopod 
I may refer to my ‘Challenger’ Report’ and to the authorities 
therein quoted*. The only published information known to me 
regarding its internal anatomy is about half a page in Verrill’s Mono- 
graph of the Cephalopods of N.E. America®. Its peculiarities are 
such that I have ventured upon the step of creating a new subfamily 
for its reception, and it was therefore a matter of special interest to 
ascertain that this procedure was justified by the internal structure. 
For the convenience of the reader I may be allowed to recapitulate 
here the chief peculiarities of the species, as it will be necessary to 
refer to them in the subsequent discussion. 
1. The Arms have each four series of suckers or hooks, whilst all 
the other CEgopsids have only two. 
2. The Ventral Arms possess only suckers in all the four series, 
whilst the other arms have two series of suckers along the margins 
and two series of hooks up the centre. 
3. The Tentacles are furnished even from a point low down upon 
the stem with regularly disposed longitudinal series of small suckers 
and corresponding fixing-cushions. 
4. The Connective Apparatus is continued up one side of the club, 
where it forms a group of five or six large suckers and fixing-cushions, 
whilst the middle of the club itself is occupied by a very short series 
of two large and three very small hooks, and the tip of the club is 
covered with small suckers. 
* Report on the Cephalopoda. ‘Challenger, Reports, Zool. vol. xvi. 
part xlvi. p. 174 (1886). 
? Especially Steenstrup, Oversigt K. D. Vid. Selsk. Forhandl. 1881. 
3 Trans. Connect. Acad. v. p. 393 (1881) ; also Rep. U. S. Fish Com. for 1879, 
Washington, p. 418 (1882). 
