1 18 MR. W. E, HOYLE ON THE [Mar. 5, 



betwfen their bases. In two cases parts of the trunk were pre- 

 served, but in no instance was there anything hke a complete 

 specimen. In consequence, I have been unable to give any account 

 of several organs, and my descriptions of others are lamentably incom- 

 plete ; but it seemed better on the whole, in view of the rarity of this 

 species, of its unique external characters, and of our almost entire 

 ignorance as to its anatomy, to utilize the material at hand and 

 endeavour to throw light upon the somewhat obscure relationships 

 of this remarkable form. 



It is perhaps worth while to mention the order in which the 

 digestive process seems to attack the various parts of the body. The 

 cuticle very soon disappears, then the fin becomes detached, and the 

 posterior end of the pen is dissolved, being probably of a softer 

 consistency than the shaft. Then most of the hooks and suckers 

 become detached, and the tentacular clubs lose the greater part of 

 their armature. The digestive organs and genital glands disappear, 

 and the gills become disorganized, the circulatory organs persisting 

 longer. The head with its attached arms then separates from the 

 body. The nervous tissues are very persistent. The last portions of 

 the body to remain are the mandibles and the lenses of the eyes, 

 which often occur in the stomachs of Cetacea in considerable numbers. 



Regarding the external description and history of this Cephalopod 

 I may refer to my 'Challenger' Report^ and to the authorities 

 therein quoted^. The only published information known to me 

 regarding its internal anatomy is about half a page in YerriU's Mono- 

 graph of the Cephalopods of N.E. America ^ Its peculiarities are 

 such that I have ventured upon the step of creating a new subfamily 

 for its reception, and it was therefore a matter of special interest to 

 ascertain that this procedure was justified by the internal structure. 



For the convenience of the reader I may be allowed to recapitulate 

 here the chief peculiarities of the species, as it will be necessary to 

 refer to them in the subsequent discussion. 



1. The Ai'ins have each four series of suckers or hooks, whilst all 

 the other CEgopsids have only two. 



2. The Ventral Arms possess only suckers in all the four series, 

 whilst the other arms have two series of suckers along the margins 

 and two series of hooks up the centre. 



3. The Tentacles are furnished even from a point low down upon 

 the stem with regularly disposed longitudinal series of small suckers 

 and corresponding fixing-cnshions. 



4. The Connective Apparatus is continued up one side of the club, 

 where it forms a group of five or six large suckers and fixing-cushions, 

 whilst the middle of the club itself is occupied by a very short series 

 of two large and three very small hooks, and the tip of the club is 

 covered with small suckers. 



^ Report on the Cephalopoda. ' Challenger,' Reports, Zool. vol. xvi. 

 part xlvi. p. 174 (188(3). 



^ Especiallv Steenstrup, Oversigt K. D. Vid. Selsk. Forhandl. 1881. 



' Trans. Connect. Acad. v. p. 393 (1881) ; also Rep. U. S. Fish Com. for 1879, 

 Washington, p. 418 (1882). 



