20 



As in the figures published by Fenissac of the Cephalopods named 

 Crunch, cardioptera by Peron and Cranch. minima by himself, the 

 anterior margin of the mantle appears to be free on its dorsal aspect, 

 similarly to that of the true Loligines, it must be doubted whether 

 these species are correctly referred to the genus Cranchia : and the 

 same doubt may perhaps be extended to Cranch. Bonelliana, Fer., 

 in the description of which no mention is made of the adhesion or 

 otherwise of the mantle to the posterior part of the head. This ad- 

 hesion Mr. Owen regards as an essential character of the genus. 



The specimen of Cranchia scabra on which the genus was founded 

 by Dr. Leach, having been imperfect in some of its parts, Mr. O wen 

 carefully describes the species anew from the perfect individual ob- 

 tained by Mr. George Bennett; which is smaller than the original 

 specimen, measuring only 1 inch 8 lines in total length to the end 

 of the outstretched tentacle. The body is remarkable for its great 

 flaccidity, which is owing to the very small space occupied by the 

 viscera : these are situated at its anterior part, and not, as in Loli- 

 gopsis, at the bottom of the sac. Besides this disproportion between 

 the bulk of the viscera and the capacity of the containing sac, Cran- 

 chia has other relations with Loligopsis in the absence of the infun- 

 dibular valve, which exists in all the other Decapodous Cephalopods ; 

 and in the non-articulation of the base of the siphon by a double 

 ball and socket joint to the internal surface of the ventro-lateral 

 parts of the mantle. In the Decapodous Cephalopods generally the 

 funnel is articulated to the mantle, at the anterior part of its base, 

 by two bedl and socket joints, the projection being on the mantle 

 and the socket on the funnel ; both consisting of cartilage, covered 

 with a fine synovial membrane. The projecting cartilage is of an 

 oval form in the Cuttle-fish : but in Loligo it forms an elongated 

 ridge ; which in Onychoteuthis commences at the anterior margin of 

 the mantle and extends one third down the sac, forming two thin 

 lateral cartilaginous lamina placed rather towards the ventral aspect 

 of the mantle : an elongated groove in the opposite sides of the fun- 

 nel plays upon each of these ridges. In Loligopsis the sides of the 

 funnel adhere to the corresponding cartilaginous lamince, which differ 

 from the lateral cartilages of other Decapodous Cephalopods only by 

 their greater length and tuberculated form. In Cranchia, as in the 

 Octopoda, these cartilages are entirely wanting; but the ventral 

 parietes of the base of the siphon become expanded, thin, and trans- 

 parent ; and adhere to and become continuous with the correspond- 

 ing parts of the mantle. 



Mr. Owen regards as new the species of Loligo referred to, and 

 describes it under the name of Lol. laticeps : four specimens of it, the 

 largest of which measures only 1-j^ inch from the extremity of the 

 mantle to the end of the outstretched tentacle, were obtained by 

 Mr. George Bennett among the Sargasso weed, in lat. 29° N., long. 

 47° W. When alive they were of a fine purple colour with dark 

 red spots. The specimens are now destitute of colour on the fins 

 and on the under surface of the third and fourth pairs of arms, and 

 the spots are but few on the under part of the head and mantle ; 



