BULLETIN OF THE 
Octopus lentus VERRILL. 
Amer, Jour. Sci., XIX. pp. 138, 294, 1880 ; Trans. Conn. Acad., V., Pl. XXXV. 
Plate IV. Fig. 2. 
Male. Body depressed, rounded. posteriorly, with only a trace of a lateral 
and posterior fold ; surface soft and nearly smooth, but showing a small num- 
ber of minute white papillæ sparsely scattered over the dorsal surface, Cirrus 
above the eye small and simple, usually contracted into a small wart-like pa- 
pila. Head broad and flattened ; eyes large. Arms rather long and slender, 
with slender tapering tips, their bases united by a rather wide web. Suckers 
small, very prominent, forming two regular rows quite to the base. 
The first two pairs of arms are nearly equal and somewhat longer than the 
two lower pairs, which differ but little between themselves. The hectocoty- 
lized arm (third of right side) bears thirty-five suckers, in two rows, and à 
remarkably large, terminal spoon-shaped organ, which occupies more than à 
third of the total length of the arm ; its sides are bent up and the edges in- 
rolled, so as to form a deep cavity ; its outer end is broadly rounded laterally, 
and terminates in a central, narrow, acute lobe ; internally there are nine large, 
high, oblique lamellæ, with deep fosse between them ; the proximal end has 
a large, acute, triangular lobe, with involute margins ; from this lobe a broad 
groove extends along the lower edge of the arm to the margin of the web ; 
where it terminates there is a distinct thickening of the bounding membrane. 
Two males of this species are in the collection. They agree well in the pecu- 
liar characters and large size of the appendage of the hectocotylized arm. The 
females only were previously known. Although these males have a mere trace 
of the loose membranous fold of skin, along the sides and around the posterior 
end, so conspicuous in the original female specimen of this species, they agree 
so well in other characters that I unite them without much hesitation, It is 
probable that the presence or absence of the membranous fold, in this and other 
species, may be due merely to differences in the state of contraction when they 
die, or even to differences in the strength of the alcohol, 
MEASUREMENTS IN MILLIMETERS, 
Right Sido. ^ Left Side. 
Total length . . . . à 95. 
Posterior end to centre of eye peo 34. 
Eye to top of dorsalarms . . . . +. + 64. 
Prodik of Dody au n o ot ee 28. 
DIS DF HA r4 er + XT s 4 22. 
Length of dorsal arms, from mouth . . . 65. 61. 
d second pair yi 5 61. 
E third, =‘ ys NO 52. 
d hectocotylized arm, from mouth . 58. 
de พ น ก แห ฑ์ ห ied a o 58, 
T spoon-shaped appendage — . . . 23. 
Brandt of the mame. » 6 = s sh 16. 
