66 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGEE. 



horizontal plane in which lies the longitudinal axis of the body, whereas in the specimen 

 which I take to be an adult of the same species, it lies in a vertical plane. The 

 significance of this point has been already alluded to whilst discussing the genus 

 Stauroteuthis (p. 61). 



This specimen has been referred to Cirroteuthis meangensis, chiefly on account of the 

 dorsal cartilage, but partly also from the presence of papillae at the junction of the web 

 with the ventral aspect of the arms, though this character would not distinguish it from 

 Cirroteuthis pacifica. 



Cirroteuthis sp. (PL IX. figs. 10, 11). 



Habitat. — South Pacific Ocean, 20° W. of Patagonia, November 6, 1875. 



Concerning this specimen, Mr. Murray's MS. journal has the following note : — " On 

 the 6th we passed a large blubber. The dingy was lowered, and I went away in it to 

 pick it up. It turned out to be part of an immense cuttle-fish, Cirroteuthis. The 

 body was gone as it had been eaten by some animal, only the arms and mouth parts 

 remained." 



The portions which came into my hands consisted of three suckers, one of which had 

 a small fragment of the integument of the arm attached to it (fig. 10). There is nothing 

 to indicate from what part of the arm they were taken, but it is most likely that the 

 largest suckers available would be selected for removal, and on the assumption that such was 

 the case they would show that the animal was of considerably greater dimensions than 

 the specimen of Cirroteuthis magna. In that form the largest suckers are situated about 

 two-thiixls along the arms, and measure 8 mm. in diameter, while the largest of the 

 present three was about 12 mm. in diameter; it would be unsafe to assume that all the 

 dimensions of the animals were proportional to the diameters of the suckers, but it seems 

 fair to suppose that this specimen attained a length of not less than 1'5 metres. 



A section of one of the suckers shows it to consist of a firm muscular shell, which is 

 embedded in the substance of the arm, and is somewhat less than 1 mm. thick. The 

 cavity is subdivided by a circular ridge, the outer portion being the proper suctorial 

 disk, the margins of which are in this instance incurved, so that it appears to form part 

 of the general cavity. 



The suckers present no characteristic structure nor peculiar markings which could 

 serve to establish satisfactorily either the specific identity of this form with, or its difi'erence 

 from, any of the preceding ones. 



