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



are represented only by papillae, each bearing two suckers ; the second pair are larger 

 than the third and bear five suckers, while each ventral arm is indicated only by one very 

 minute sessile sucker. 



On the tentacles the suckers commence close to the base instead of half way up the 

 stem, whence one would be disposed to infer that the growth of these organs takes place 

 at the base rather than the apex. The club is not in the least expanded, and four rows 

 of suckers are found only at the extreme tip. Below and in front of the eye are two or 

 three minute white shining dots but no swollen mass of tissue. The usual four cartilage- 

 like bands pass down the ventral surface, but the number of papillae is less than in the 

 adults, being only from seven to nine. 



I am unable to refer to this species Cranchia reinhardtii, Brock, ^ and Cranchia cf. 

 reinhardtii, Pfefi'er.^ The former differs so conspicuously in the form of the body, which 

 indeed is more like that found in Taonius than that characteristic of Cranchia. It must 

 be remembered, however, that the correct pictorial reproduction of the form of these 

 specimens requires great care for its accomplishment. I distended the mantle-cavity of 

 several specimens by means of a syringe, and only one of them (fig. 4) showed any conical 

 process at the posterior extremity whatever, and that was very different from the form 

 given in Brock's figure. This same specimen had, however, a number of spots, of which 

 several situated on the ventral surface and on one fin are shown ; they were not 

 darkly pigmented, but pale, like the rest of the body, from which they seemed to differ 

 in structure rather than colour ; a few very faint markings could also be deciphered on 

 the tentacles ; there seemed, however, to be no other points indicating that this form 

 was distinct from the others. It would be interesting should there be proved to exist 

 a series of forms with more or less elongated bodies connecting Cranchia with Taonius. 



Dr. Pfeffer's species, with regard to the position of which he expresses great doubt, 

 does not appear to me to be Cranchia reinhardtii, Steenstrup ; its body-form is quite 

 different, resembling that of Brock's specimen, the web between the arms is present 

 between the third and fourth pairs ; the arms are compressed and the third and fourth 

 provided with a fin, the tentacles have two ridges separated by a furrow, one of which 

 expands into a web, and there are other smaller differences which a comparison of the 

 descriptions will disclose. 



Whether Pfeffer's specimen belongs to the same species as Brock's, I have of course 

 no better means of ascertaining than had he. 



Brock {he. cit.) suggests on the basis of the specimen figured by him that Cranchia 

 reinhardtii may be the same as Cranchia maculata, Leach ; and as I have recently been 

 able to examine the type of that species in the British Museum, it may be well to give 

 some account of it here. 



1 Zeitschr.f. wiss. Zool., Bd. xxxvi. p. 605, pi. xxxvii. fig. 4, 1882. 



2 Ceph. Hamb. Mus., p. 29, fig. 35. 



