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



found only in the wrongly identified specimens, which were afterwards shown by 

 Steenstrup to be small specimens of Gonatus fabricii, so that the subgenus Owenia lost 

 all locus standi. 



The result of all this is a list of synonyms anjrthing but pleasant to contemplate, but 

 since the publication of the excellent plate in Steenstrup's first mentioned paper it will 

 be difficult for any observer to mistake this form in the future. 



The specimens which have come into my hands from the " Valorous " expedition 

 are all small and have not enabled me to add anything of consequence to the descriptions 

 which have gone before, but it appeared worth while to make their occurrence in the 

 collection an opportunity for giving a resume of the literature regarding this interest- 

 ing form. 



Family XII. Taonoteuthi, Steenstrup. 



Subfamily Chiroteuthid^, Gray. 



Chiroteuthis, d'Orbigny. 

 Chiroteuthis {?), sp. (PL XXXI. figs. 1-5). 



Hahitat. — Pacific Ocean. Fragments of a gladius taken from the stomach of a shark, 

 September 2, 1875. 



One of the most curious specimens in the collection is this much damaged and frag- 

 mentary pen, for if I am correct in referring it to Chiroteuthis, that genus must attain 

 dimensions which have been hitherto quite unsuspected. 



The portions preserved are ten in number, of which three are mere scraps and give 

 no information regarding the form of the complete structure. The largest piece is 

 22 '5 cm. in length; with a maximum and minimum depth of 2 cm. and 1*5 cm. 

 respectively, while the breadth varies from 0'85 to 1 cm. The form of its section at 

 the larger and presumably the anterior end is shown in fig. 3 : it is in fact a lamella, 

 thickest in the mid-dorsal line where it is sharply folded to form a keel, thence it 

 passes in two curves (like ojco) outwards, then downwards, and finally inwards towards 

 the median line again. Whether the margins of the lamellse were fused at this point, 

 as will be seen to be the case in the posterior portion, cannot now be decided, but as in 

 the majority of pens the anterior portion is flat and open, there is no reason for doubting 

 that this was the portion where the opening began to take place. 



The smaller extremity of the fragment in question has a section of the form shown in 

 fig. 4, which was drawn, however, from a portion situated slightly farther back ; it closely 



