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



Subfamily Mastigoteuthid^, Verrill. 



Mastigoteuthis, Verrill. 

 Mastigoteuthis agassizii, Verrill (PL XXIX. figs. 8-10). 



188L Mastigoteuthis Agassizii, Vll., " Blake " Eep., p. 100, pis. i., ii. figs. 2, 3. 



188L „ „ VII., Ceph. N. E. Amer., p. 297, pis. xlviii., xlix. figs. 2, 3. 



1884. „ „ Vll., Second Catal., p. 243. 



Habitat. — Station 2, south-west of Tenerife, Febuary 17, 1873; lat. 25° 52' N., long. 

 19°22'W.; 1945 fathoms ; Globigerina ooze. Fragments of a tentacle, found adhering 

 to the dredge rope. 



Off North Carolina, U.S.A ; lat. 33^° to 34l° K, long. 75^° to 76° W., and 647 to 

 1632 fathoms (Verrill). 



When these fragments were obtained Dr. von WiUemoes-Suhm mounted several of the 

 suckers as microscopic objects, and his diary has the following mention of the occurrence : 

 " The arms of a cuttle-fish were brought up having suckers which show a horny denticula- 

 tion of the finest arrangement. See preparations." 



From these preparations the drawings on PL XXIX. have been made, which show the 

 tentacular suckers to be hood-shaped, with a rather small aperture and a horny ring bear- 

 ing from six to eight strong, pointed teeth, and surrounded by a broad papillary area, with 

 two rows of spinous papiUge. 



A thickened band of the horny material extends round the posterior and proximal 

 part of the sucker, where it is visible through the integuments (fig. 9). 



The fragments picked up by the Challenger have a combined length of 42 cm. or about 

 one-third longer than the tentacle measured by Verrill. 



The sucker-bearing portion is about 18 "5 cm. long, and the greatest diameter (4 mm.) 

 is about 7 cm. from the extremity ; at the proximal part of the sucker-bearing portion 

 the diameter has diminished to 3 "5 mm. and a fragment which was apparently still nearer 

 the base measures only 275 mm. From these dimensions it may be concluded that the 

 specimen was of considerably greater magnitude than the larger of the two measured by 

 VerriU, its total length from the posterior extremity to the end of the sessile arms 

 having presumably been about 30 cm. 



No portion of the present tentacle (of which the extreme tija has fortunately been 

 preserved) is entu-ely surrounded by suckers, as VerrUl indicates to have been the case 

 with his examples, although his figure (op. cit., pi. xlviii.) hardly agrees with this ; and at 

 the widest portion of the tentacle almost exactly half its circumference is covered by 

 suckers. 



This difference, and also the fact that ths tentacle instead of tapering gradually 



