122 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLEISTGER. 



The single specimen upon wliicK the genus and species under discussion are based 

 was in a most unsatisfactory condition ; the head was separated from the body and the 

 latter was completely gutted, only the integuments remaining. Under these circum- 

 stances its relationships to other forms can only be incompletely made out. It seems, 

 however, to be connected in some way or other with all the principal groups of Myopsida. 



With Sepiola and Rossia it agrees in the form of the body and fins (although 

 these are situated much farther back, and even extend beyond the posterior extremity 

 of the body) as also in the spherical form of the suckers. It resembles the latter genus 

 in that the mantle fold seems to have been continuous across the dorsum. 



From both these genera it differs in the small size of the head, which is considerably 

 less in diameter than the body, and also in the covering of the eye, the integument 

 passing directly over this without any reduplication to form a lower eyelid ; in the last 

 point it resembles Loligos as also in the presence of the pre-ocular pore, but whether it 

 also agrees with that genus in the presence of an auricular crest cannot now be 

 determined. A relationship to Sepia is indicated by the form of the mantle-connective, 

 which consists of an almond-shaped depression at the hinder angle of the siphon, and 

 not of an elongated groove, as in the other genera just mentioned. 



Finally, the similarity between the tentacles and the arms, alluded to above, 

 may perhaps be a primitive character ; it has also been observed in Taonius suhmi 

 (see p. 192). 



Family VIII. Sepiakii, Steenstrup. 

 Subfamily Idiosepii, Steenstrup. . 

 Spirilla, Lamarck. 

 Spirula peronii, Lamarck. 



1822. Spirula peronii, Lmk, Anim. s.,Vert., t. vii. p. 601. 



Habitat. — Station 194a, off Banda, September 29, 1874; lat. 4° 31' S., long. 

 129° 57' 20" E.; 360 fathoms ; volcanic mud. One specimen, with soft parts. 



North Atlantic, April 29, 1876, surface. Dead shells. 



Raine Island, Torres Strait. Dead shells from the shore. 



Station 216a, north of Papua, February 16, 1875 ; lat. 2° 56' K, long. 134° 11' E.; 

 2000 fathoms; Globigerina ooze. One dead shell with a Cirriped attached (almost 

 certainly from the surface). 



February 22, 1875 ; 70 miles north-east of Fort D'Urville, Papua. Dead shell. 



Since Professor Huxley is preparing a Eeport on this genus, I have merely recorded 

 the localities at which its occurrence was observed during the Expedition. 



