244 
A. E. Verrill — North American Cephalopods. 
as of generic value, is the power of projecting the beak in the form 
of a proboscis. But this is habitually done by the various common 
species of Ommastrephes , Loligo , etc., and perhaps by all ten-armed 
cephalopods. There is not sufficient evidence, from the published 
accounts, that this specimen differed in any way from the Architeu- 
this monachus. It was described as 19 feet in total length ; the long- 
arms having been mutilated, the part remaining was 11 feet long, 
and as thick as a man’s arm ; the short arms varied from 6 to 8 feet 
in length, and were as thick as a man’s leg, and had two rows of. 
large serrated suckers ; the proboscis (buccal mass with beak) was 
the size of a man’s fist ; the beak was “ somewhat like to an Eagle’s 
Bill, but broader.” The whole animal was said to have been as 
large as a large horse. The length of the head and body together 
was 8 feet. 
Mr. More has kindly sent me a tracing from the original figure. 
This shows a broad, oval, Hat body, and a small caudal fin. The 
body or mantle had evidently been split open and spread out flat. 
This fact is also evident from the original descriptions reprinted 
by Mr. More, in which the sides of the mantle are described as fol- 
lows : “ Over this Monster’s back was a mantle of a bright Red 
Color, with a fringe round it, it hung down on both sides like a Car- 
pet on a table, falling back on each side, and faced with white.” 
The liver, according to the descriptions, had been removed : “ When 
it was dead and opened the liver wayed 30 pound.” The proboscis 
had also been removed before it was exhibited, and it is therefore 
very probable that the figure and descriptions represent it as more 
extended than was natural. 
The measurements given indicate a specimen smaller than several 
of the American examples, and but little, if any, larger than our 
No. 5, from Logie Bay. 
In the Zoologist, June, 1875, p. 4502, and August, p. 4569, and in 
the August number of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 
vol. xvi, p. 123, the same writer gave an account of the capture, and 
briefly described the beak, odontophore, and portions of the tentacles 
and arms of another specimen, taken off Boffin Island, on the west 
coast of Ireland, April, 1875. The tentacular-arms are said to have 
been 30 feet long ; the expanded portion 2 feet 9 inches ; the large 
central suckers nearly 1 inch in diameter ; those of the outer rows ‘5 
of an inch; one short arm is said to have been 8 feet long, and 15 
inches in circumference at the base, when fresh. It had small suckers 
without teeth on the horny rings, on the ‘wrist’ of the ‘club’ and 
