164 PROP. OWEN ON NEW AND RAEE CEPHALOPODA. 



suckers the specimen agreed with the Loliginidse, in which family Ommastreplies illece- 

 brosa^, 0. pelagicu»'^, and 0. vanicoriensis^ repeat the character of the posterior con- 

 fluent fins (" mit einander verwachsene Flossen am Hinterleib "). 



In portions of a similarly large Squid exposed for sale in the Yedo fish-market 

 Dr. Hilgendorf subsequently noticed the thickened end of the two longest arms (" das 

 verdichte Endstiick der beiden langsten Arme," /. c. p. 67) ; and, concluding that such 

 arms could not belong to a species of Ommastreplies, he proposes for the great Japanese 

 Squid, to which he assumes them to belong, the generic name Megateuthis. But it 

 may be questioned whether this enlargement of the ventral arms may not exemplify a 

 sexual rather than a generic character * ; no other is assigned save that of size. 



The following admeasurements are given of the original subject : — 



eentim. 

 From the liind end of the mantle to its fore border along the back . . 186 

 Length of the longest of the eight arms 197 



The extreme size assigned by Aristotle to one of his Malakia is to a Decapod ; and 

 this squares in the main with that of Cook's Hooked Squid ; the brief notice '% as usual, 

 favourably contrasts with the marvellous Cuttles of his uncritical successor Pliny. 



Any notice of Cuttlefish seen from the deck by seamen of any grade, the admiral 

 inclusive, is unavailable for the prosaic naturalist, when no part of the alleged monster 

 has been obtained, preserved, or described by a competent zoologist. To him the report, 

 for example, transmitted by the Minister of the Marine to the Academy of Sciences, 

 Institute of France, and given in the 'Comptes Rendus,' 30th December, 1861, is 

 unavailable by reason of the commander of the war-ship ' L'Alecton ' forbidding the 

 means of capture . — " Officiers et matelots me demandaient a faire amener un canot et a 

 aller garrotter de nouveau I'animal et I'amener le long du bord. lis y seraient peut- 

 etre parvenus, mais je craignais que dans cette rencontre corps a corps le monstre ne 

 lan^at ses longs bras armes de ventouses sur les bords du canot, ne le fit chavirer et 

 n'etouftat peut-etre quelques matelots dans ses fouets redoutables charges d'effiuves 

 electriques" (p. 1264). 



From the accompanying statement of the scene in the Pacific Ocean, its subject seems 

 certainly to have been a Cephalopod, not a Torpedo. The dimensions of the " Poulpe 

 monstrueuXy qui nageait a la surface de I'eau, et mesurait de 5 metres a 6 metres de 



' D'Orb. ut supra, Loligo, pi. iii. " Ibid. pi. xviii. ' Ibid. pi. sxi. 



* See Steenstrup in ' Eongeligc Danske Videnskabernes Selskabs Skrifter,' 5te Eaeke, Bind iv., 4to, 1856. 



° " 01 revdoi KoKovfiei'Oi eiriiroXv /nei'^ous" yiyt'orrai yap Koi irei're wlj-^eiiiv to jueyeflos." — Arist. Hist. Animal, 

 lib. if. cap. i. 8. " But the so-called Squids (Loliginidte) are much the largest (of the MoUia or Cephalopods) ; 

 some even attain the length of 5 cubits," probably equivalent to 7 feet 6 inches English. The Greek tt^x""" i^ 

 usually taken at 10| inches. 



