108 BULLETIN OF THE 



Octopus lentus Verrill. 

 Amer. Jour. Sci., XIX. pp. 138, 294, 1880 ; Trans. Conn. Acad., V., PI. XXXV. 



Plate IV. Fig. 3. 



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 papillae sparsely scattered over the dorsal surface. Cirrus 

 above the eye small and simple, usually contracted into a small wart-like pa- 

 pilla. 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 a 

 remarkably large, terminal spoon-shaped organ, which occupies more than a 

 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 lamellse, with deep fossae 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 vmite 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 MII^LIMETERS. 



Right Side. Left Side. 



Total length 95. 



Posterior end to centre of eye . ... 34. 



Eye to top of dorsal arms 64. 



Breadth of body 28. 



Breadth of head 22. 



Length of dorsal arms, from mouth ... 65. 61. 



" second pair " ... 61. 



third " " ... 52. 



" hectocotylized arm, from mouth . 58. 



" fourth i)air 53. 



" spoon -shaped appendage ... 23. 



Breadth of the same 16. 



