OCTOPODID^. 21 



odor. Its flesh is more tender than that of the Octopus, but it 

 has less taste and is not so well liked. It is used boiled, as a 

 salad, fried or as a ragoiit. 



The women of the tribe of M'talassa (Algiers), anoint their 

 hair with the black liquid which they collect from this mollusk, 

 but whether they use it as a dye or for the sake of its musk-like 

 perfume, is not known. The perfume appears to be capable of 

 industrial use. — Aucapitaine, Bev. et Mag. Zool.^ 366, 1862. 



Johnston says of E. octopodia^ a species common in Northern 

 Europe : " When at rest, this octopod lies prone on the belly, 

 the arms spread out in front, with their extremities exposed in 

 spirals on the sides. It has in this position a considerable like- 

 ness to a toad; and, often raising the back and head, its aspect 

 is realty repulsive and threatening. It moves quickl}^, and 

 always retrograde, playing its arms in a regulated, graceful 

 manner, which no one can contemplate without wonder in a 

 body so grotesque and apparently so inapt for locomotion." — 

 Proc. Bertv. N. H. Club, i, 198. 



BoLiT^NA, Steenstrup, 1850. 

 More gelatinous than Eledone ; suckers smaller, less developed. 

 In the description of this genus no type is cited. In Wood- 

 ward and Keferstein a single living species is mentioned, but 

 without name. 



CiRROTEUTHis, Eschricht, 1836. 



Etym. — Cirrus^ a filament, teuthis, a cuttle-fish. 



Sijn. — Bostrj^choteuthis, Agass., 1841. Sciadephorus, Rein, 

 and Proch, 1846. 



Bistr. — C. Mulleri^ Bsch. (xxiii, t). Greenland. 



Body with two transverse medial fins ; mantle united to the 

 head nearly all round, by a cervical band ; arms united by a web 

 nearly to their tips. 



STAUROTEUTHis, Verrill, 18Y9. Allied to Cirroteuthis,but with 

 the mantle united to the head all around, and to the dorsal side 

 of the slender siphon, which it surrounds like a close collar, 

 leaving only a very narrow opening aroimd the base of the 

 siphon laterally and ventrally. Fins triangular, in advance of 

 the middle of the body. Dorsal cartilage forming a median 

 angle directed backward. Body flattened, soft, bordered by a 

 membrane. Eyes covered by the integument. Web not reaching 

 the tips of the arms. Suckers in one row. Bight arm of second 

 pair is altered, in the male, at the tip. S. Syrtensis, Verrill. 

 Near Sable Island. 



Tritaxeopus, Owen, 1881. 

 Distr. — T. cornutus, Owen (xxiii, 10). Australia. 

 Body not finned ; suckers on the arms three-ranked. 



