HOYLE: ItErOItTS ON THE CEPHALOPODA.. 19 



biscrial (Fig. 5). The question might arise whether these examples belong to 

 the genus Moschites (Eledo7ie), the uniserial being normal and the liiserial due 

 to contraction, or whetlier they are a species of Polypus (Octopus) in which the 

 uniserial arrangement is gradually becoming biserial. I have no hesitation in 

 adopting the latter view, because the animals are undoubtedly young, as shown 

 by the presence of the j'olk sac, and because, as I have elsewhere remarked, 

 ('86, p. 76) the suckers in the genus Polypus are not, strictly speaking, in two 

 rows, but in one zigzag row. I am not aware whether this point has been 

 established by an examination of embryos, but the j)resent series of young 

 examples seems to indicate that the suckers are first formed in a single series 

 which press each other sideways so as to form two rows as they become more 

 crowded. 



It is quite impo.ssible to decide as to the species to which these specimens 

 belong. From the size to which they have attained before losing the yolk sac 

 it is likely that they are the young of some large specie.^, perhaps one hitherto 

 undescribed. I give below a description, to facilitate the clearing up of this 

 point at some future date. 



The Body (Figs. 3, 4) is ovoid, distinctly longer than broad, and the ventral 

 groove is well marked. The mantle-opening is narrow, extending only about 

 one-fifth round the body, and ending directly below the centre of the eve. 

 The siphon is tapering and extends from one-third to halfway to the umbrella 

 margin, according to its state of contraction. 



TJie Head is sliort and narrow, distinctly narrower than the body, and the 

 eyes are round, black, and prominent. 



The Arms are sub-equal and conical, tapering to blunt extremities. They 

 are about equal in length to the head and body together ; round in section ex- 

 cept for the projection of the suckers. The umbrella extends about one-third 

 up the arms. The suckers are small and closely set, and the arrangement va- 

 ries between a biserial and a uniserial disposition as above describeil. 



The Surface of the dorsal half of the body, head and arms, is finely granular, 

 the inferior half smooth. 



The Mantle is attached to the middle line ventral ly by a broad ligament, 

 4 mm. wide, close to its free border. The edge of the mantle is turned over 

 and thickened internally just within the free border so as to form a kind of 

 ridge, which iits into a corresponding hollow in the base of tlie siphon (Fig. 8); 

 this arrangement no doubt serves to insure the complete closure of the mouth 

 of the mantle when water is being ejected through the funnel. 



T)ie Radula was extracted from one of the specimens and is fignretl on Plate 

 5, Fig. 9. In the bending of the outermost teeth and the recurving of the 

 parts of the inner laterals it seems to present signs of incomplete development. 

 The centrals have a broad median cusp, tapering to an acute point, and on 

 either side are rudiments of a small lateral cusp. The first and second laterals 

 are triangular and pointed: the third laterals very long and slender and bluntly 

 pointed. The irregular bending shown in the drawing is not, I think, a 

 natural condition. 



