REPORT ON THE CEPHALOPODA. 61 



angle, directed backward," ^ and (2) the fact that the web is attached to an equal extent 

 both to the dorsal and ventral aspects of the arms.^ 



With regard to the former of these matters I am inclined to doubt its value, because 

 in the case of Cirroteuthis meangerisis I found a young individual with the cartilage 

 disposed as in Stauroteuthis, while in a larger one it was placed in the usual manner. 

 Furthermore, the examination of the specimens of Cirroteuthis miilleri in the Zoological 

 Museum at Copenhagen led me to the conclusion that the cartilage was liable to con- 

 siderable displacement by the unequal contraction of so soft and loosely compacted a 

 body when immersed in alcohol, and that an observer who had only one specimen for 

 investigation might easily be deceived as to its original position. 



As to the latter point, it constitutes, to my mind, the chief diagnostic character of 

 Stauroteuthis, if it be proved to exist. It may seem gratuitous to hint that so careful an 

 observer as Professor Verrill may have made a mistake in such a matter as the attach- 

 ment of the web to the arms, but he does not record the absence of the usual inequality, 

 and it is a point which, unless exaggerated, as in the case of Cirroteuthis magna, is not 

 very striking, and is also one which has been observed in every specimen examined with 

 a view to ascertaining its existence. More explicit information as to this point, and as to 

 the form of the internal cartilage, would be very acceptable to teuthologists. 



The specimen under discussion was at first referred to Stauroteuthis, because, although 

 the web was much lacerated, it appeared as though it could be traced almost to the 

 extremities of the arms, and that name (with a query) was affixed to the drawing (PI. 

 XL fig. 3), in which also the margin of the web was "restored" in agreement with this 

 view as to the affinities of the ahimaL Since the cartilage has been extracted, however, 

 and has been compared with that of Cirroteuthis magna, it has been found to present a 

 most decided agreement with it (compare PL XIII. figs. 1, 2, and 3, 4), and a renewed 

 examination of the arms and the fragments of the web has shown that the appearances 

 previously relied upon were deceptive, so that there seems now every reason to regard 

 this specimen and the larger one as conspecific. 



Cirroteuthis pacifica, Hoyle (PL X.). 



1885. Cirroteufhis pacifica, Hoyle, Diagnoses L, p. 235. 

 1885. „ „ Hoyle, Prelim. Eep. I, p. 112. 



Habitat. — Station 181, off the south-eastern extremity of Papua, August 25, 1874; 

 lat. 13° 50' S., long. 151° 49' E.; 2440 fathoms; red clay. One mutilated specimen. 



TJie Body is almost entirely absent. The Jin is obovate in form, and thickened along 

 the posterior margin, thin and membranous at the extremity and along the anterior 



1 Ceph. N. E. Amer., p. 382. = Op. cit, pi. xx.xii. 



