HOYLE : RErORTS ON THE CEPHALOPODA. 17 



smooth surface. The arms are given by Gould as being in order of length, 1, 

 2, 3, 4; but it would appear from his figure that there is no great disparity 

 between them and that they might with propriety be termed sub-equal. It 

 may further be remarked, in this connection, that in Gould's specimen the 

 arms were contorted by the contraction of the mantle, under which circum- 

 stances accurate measurements are very difficult. In all these from the 

 " Albatross " Expedition the arms are sub-equal ; in some one is a trifle longer, 

 in others another. In the male specimen (No. 7949), in which the total length 

 is 8.5 cm. and that of the longest arms G.5 cm., the hectocotylized arm is only 

 4.5 cm. long and the modified extremity only 4 mm. This is of the usual 

 form ; the centre of the spoon-shaped portion forms a rounded elevation with- 

 out any transverse ribs (Plate 4, Fig. 5). The specimen numbered 7950 differs 

 from the last (7949) in the paler dull-gray color, but this is possibly due to 

 some difference in the mode of preservation. The body is distended and 

 wrinkled, and much of the epidermis is stripped froiTi the arms. The proximal 

 four suckers are in two rows, not in one, but I am not at all sure of the value 

 of this character. 



The radnla presents a noteworthy character in the way in which the lateral 

 denticles of the median tooth occupy successively higher positions as we pass 

 backwards in the radula. There is thus produced a serial repetition which is 

 completed in about five teeth (Plate 5, Fig. 1). 



Specimen No. 7954 is small (about 4.5 cm. in total length), but it seems to 

 me also to belong to this species. It is a good deal more contracted and harder 

 in consistency, and more ruddy in hue. The only diflference on account of 

 which I should be inclined to separate it is the existence of a very small pale 

 wart above each eye, but it is so small and the skin is a good deal wrinkled 

 round about, so that it appears to me too insignificant a character to outweigh 

 the numerous points of resemblance. 



14. Polypus tonganus ? 

 Octopus toTKjatuts Hoyle, '86, p. 83, Plate 8, Figs. 1, 2. 



Habitat. — Pacific Ocean, between Columbia and Mexico; no more precise 

 locality. Two specimens. No. 8040. [H. 34, 35.] 



The larger, a very flaccid and mutilated specimen, presents no characters bv 

 which it can be distinguished from the species discovered by the "Challenger" 

 at Tongatabu. The identification is a little uncertain because the " Chal- 

 lenger" specimens were in a state of extreme contraction and the surface 

 considerably injured by mutual pressure. 



One specimen is about 20 cm. in total length, the other about 6 cm. 



VOL. XLIII. — NO. 1 2 



