92 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



Station 9, Fseroe Channel, H.M.S. "Triton" Expedition, August 23, 1882; 

 lat. 60° 5' N., long. 6° 21' W.; 608 fathoms ; mud. One specimen, J . 



Greenland (Dewhurst) ; north-east coast of the United States, 85 to 843 fathoms 

 (Verrill) ; coast of Norway (Sars). 



A few words are necessary regarding the synonymy of this species as given above. 

 The number and beauty of the drawings, which Professor Verrill has given of his types, 

 have enabled me to establish beyond any doubt their identity with the specimens 

 obtained from the Fseroe Channel ; it is equally certain that the form figured by Professor 

 Sars is conspecific with them. That the specimens in my hands are the same as Octopus 

 arcticus, Proseh, I was able to establish in 1884 when I had the opportunity of com- 

 paring them with the types in the Copenhagen Museum. The identity of this form 

 with Octopus grcenlandicus (Dewhurst) cannot be proved, unless it were shown that 

 only one species of Octopus occurs on the coast of Greenland, the original description 

 being quite valueless. 



Octoptis pictus, Brock. 



1882. Octopus pictiis, Brock, Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool., Bd. xxxii. p. 603, pL xxxvii. fig. 3 



{non Verrill). 



1883. „ maculosus, Hoyle, Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edin., vol. vii. p. 319, pi. vi. 



1884. „ „ E. A. Smith, « Alert" Eeport, p. 36, pi. iv. fig. c. 



Habitat. — Port Jackson, Australia (Brock, E. A. Smith) ; Australia (Hoyle). 



To me, personally, a melancholy kind of interest attaches to this species, for it is the 

 first I ventured to describe, being unaware that Dr Brock had, a few months previously, 

 as an appendix to the elaborate anatomical work above quoted, described several new 

 species, among which the present form was one. 



Although this species does not occur in the Challenger collection, it appears desirable 

 to mention it here partly as introductory to the following variety, and partly for the sake 

 of rectifying the synonymy. 



Brock's original diagnosis may be translated here : " Mantle of the specimen, preserved 

 in alcohol, slightly broader than long. The arms are subequal, not very long com- 

 pared with the body, and in order of length 3, 2, 4, 1. The second and third pairs 

 are almost exactly equal, and not quite twice as long as the body. Arms tapering 

 constantly towards the tips. Suckers in two regularly alternating series continually 

 decreasing in size. The first three or four smaller than the rest and arranged in a single 

 series. Umbrella equally but slightly developed. Ocular cirri wanting. 



" Ventral and inner sides of the arms dull ochre yeUow, dorsal and outer sides of the 

 arms darker, somewhat regularly marked with large blackish brown spots, fused at the 



