bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



Interme<liate web absent parifica Hojle. 



Intermediate web present 4. 



( Internal cartilage longer than broad tiiUlleri Eschriclit. 



■ ( Internal cartilage broader than long magna Hoyle. 



Tlie characters of C. umhellata as given b}- Fischer ('83, p. 402) do not 

 enable nie to discriminate between his species and those described by Verrill ; 

 in fact, from the account of his two larger specimens it seems not unlikely that 

 they ought to be referred to the genus Opisthoteuthis Yerrill ('83, p. 113). The 

 phrase " le corps . . . etait tellement court qu'on ne distinguait, au premier 

 abord, que le disque forme par les bras, et que I'animal rasseniblait en queltjue 

 sorte k une asterie nioUe (Hymenaster)." A comparison of this description 

 with the figures of 0. depressa given by Ijima and Ikeda ('95, p. 133) is, to say 

 the least of it, very suggestive. 



Since the above was writteu I have seen Professor Joubin's important work 

 (: 01) on the collections made by the " Princesse Alice," in which he records 

 the capture of examples identified with C. umhellata. He does not seem very 

 certain of this identification, for he speaks of having arrived at it " par exclusion 

 successive," and adds that "les deux ou trois caracteres signales par P. Fischer, 

 . . . s'appliquent bien a rechantillon de la Princesse Alice." It seems to 

 me, however, that M. Joubin overlooks the important account of the general 

 shape just alluded to. In any case a comparison of his figures and descriptions 

 with those given below suggests very strongly that his specimens are the same 

 as the species here called Stauroteuthis hippocrepium (see p. 6). 



1. Cirroteuthis, sp. 



HrtAtW. — Station 3414, off Tehuantepec, April 8, 1891; lat. 10° 14' N. ; 

 long. 90° 28 W., 2232 fathoms ; green mn^l ; temperature, surface 82°, bottom 

 35.°8; one specimen, No. 7945 A. [H. 33.] ^ 



But little is left of this specimen ; the bead and body have entirely disap- 

 peared with the exception of one gill and one eye, and the arms "have lost nmst 

 of their integument and of the umbrella connecting them. So far as can be 

 seen, it agrees in many respects with C. pacifica from the "Challenger" 

 Expe<lition (Hoyle, '86, p. 61), the only noteworthy difference being that the 

 nodule wliich indicates the attachment of the web to the ventral side of the arm 

 is rather less instead of rather more than halfway up the arm, Init as the dorsal 

 cartilage was not preserved, it is impossible to say with certainty whether it 

 belonged to the genus Cirroteuthis or to Stauroteuthis. 



2. Cirroteuthis, sp. 



Hahitnt. — Stition .33.')S ; off Cape Mala; F.bniary 2t, 1891 ; lat. 0° 30' N., 

 long. 81° 44' \V., :>.*>.') fathoms ; temperature, surface 83°, bottom, 4().°2 ; green 

 sand. 



* Tl)e ntimbors in sqiinrc brackets preceded by " H " ri'fcr to my own register 

 of specimens examined. 



