164 PROF. OWEN ON NEW AND EAEB CEPIULOPODA. 



suckers the specimen agreed with the Loliginidse, in wliich family Ommastrephes illece- 

 hrosa^, 0. pelagicus^, and 0. vaiucoriensis^ repeat the character of the posterior con- 

 fluent fins (" mit einander verwachsene Flossen am Hinterleib "). 



In portions of a similarly large Squid exposed for sale in the Yedo fish-market 

 Dr. Hilgendorf subsequently noticed the thickened end of the two longest arras (" das 

 verdichte Endstiick der beiden iJiugsten Arme," I. c. p. 67) ; and, concluding that such 

 arms could not belong to a species of Ommastrejthes, he proposes for the great Japanese 

 Squid, to which he assumes them to belong, the generic name Megateuthis. But it 

 may be questioned whether this enlargement of the ventral arms may not exemplify a 

 sexual rather than a generic character'' ; no other is assigned save that of size. 



The following admeasurements are given of the original subject : — 



centim. 

 From the hind end of the mantle to its fore border along the baek . . 186 

 Length of the longest of the eight arms 197 



The extreme size assigned by Aristotle to one of his MalaJcia is to a Decapod ; and 

 this squares in the main with that of Cook's Hooked Squid ; the brief notice ^, as usual, 

 favourably contrasts with the marvellous Cuttles of his uncritical successor Pliny. 



Any notice of Cuttlefish seen from the deck by seamen of any grade, the admiral 

 inclusive, is unavailable for the prosaic naturalist, when no part of the alleged monster 

 has been obtained, preserved, or described by a competent zoologist. To him the report, 

 for example, transmitted by the Minister of the Marine to the Academy of Sciences, 

 Institute of France, and given in the ' Comptes Rendus,' 30th December, 1861, is 

 unavailable by reason of the commander of the war-ship ' L'Alecton ' forbidding the 

 means of capture . — " Officiers et matelots me demandaient a faire amenerun canot et ii 

 aller garrotter de nouveau I'animal et I'amener le long du bord. lis y seraient pcut- 

 etre parvenus, mais je craignais que dans cette rencontre corps a corps le monstre ne 

 lan^at ses longs bras armes de ventouscs sur les bords du canot, ne le fit chavirer et 

 netouffat peut-etre quelques matelots dans ses fouets redoutables charges d'effluves 

 electriques" (p. 1264). 



From the accompanying statement of the scene in the Pacific Ocean, its subject seems 

 certainly to have been a Cephalopod, not a Torpedo. The dimensions of the " Poulpe 

 moustrueux, qui nageait a la surface de I'eau, et mesurait de 5 metres a 6 metres de 



' D'Orb. ut supra, Lolhjo, pi. iii. - Ibid. pi. xviii. ^ Ibid. pi. xxi. 



* See Steenstrup in ' Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskabs Skrifter,' 5te Ea;ke, Bind iv., 4to, 1856. 



^ " at TCvQoi KaXoii^ei'ot eirtTroXv ^eUovs' ylyi'ovTai yap t:a\ Trerrc xz/^ewf to ^xeyedos." — Arist. Hist. Animal, 

 lib. iv. cap. i. 8. " But the so-called Squids (Loliginidaj) are much the largest (of the Mollia or Ccphalopods) ; 

 some even attain the length of 5 cubits," probably equivalent to 7 feet 6 inches EugHsh. The Greek tt^x"* is 

 usually taken at lOj inches. 



