ÖFVERSIGT AF K. VETENSK.-AKAD. FÖRHANDLINGAR 1896, NIO 8. (Ul 



being developed into such papillae as those of the left arm. Both 



ventral arms liave a delicate web. The hectocotylisation had 



not previously beeii observed in any representative of the faniily 



Cranchiadw. It is therefore of great interest to find that this 



family does not form any exception to the rule, which Steenstrup 



in so masterly a manner established. As the anatomy of Cran- 



chiadce is insufficiently known its affinities cannot yet bé dis- 



cussed, but it is certainly of great importance for the ultiraate 



Solution of that question to know that one of the ventral arms 



(the left) is hectocotylised. 



The description of the shape of our specimen indicates how 



a Cranchia is developed from a »rotund and barrelshaped» young, 



»bluntly rounded behind» and so thick that the diameter is greater 



than half the length (Hoyle) ') to such an elongate Leachia- 



like form as our specimen. In the fullgrown specimen also the 



fins are much larger and the arms longer. Although the diflfe- 



rences between the young and the fullgrown animal is great in 



some respects, there cannot arise any doubt as to their identity, 



nor as to Brock's '^) and Pfefper's ^) specimens being intermediate 



forms. The development goes in the same direction as in 0»?- 



matostrephini and OnycMi, the young of which are, at least in 



the first stages, comparatively short and thick with terminal fins. 



Thus, I cannot agree with HoYLE in regarding Brock's and 



Pfeffer's specimens as belonging to a different species from 



Cranchia reinliardti SteenstrüP. They are only a little older 



than his, and halfgrown. 



The colour of our specimen is white semi-transparent with a 



few, very small, (in the present state of contraction) round chro- 



matophores scattered över the body. At the distal end of the fins 



we find the chromatophores collected into a group. On the pallium 



they are rather numerous on the anterior dorsal part. On the dorsal 



face of the head there are some very large chromatophores and some 



^) Report on the Cephalopoda, Challenger, XVI p. 184. 

 2) Zeitschr. f. vv. Zool. Bd XXXVI p. 605. 



^) Abh. Naturwiss. Ver. Hamburg Bd VIII, Cephalop. d. Hamburger. Nat. Mu- 

 seums p. 29. 



