A. E. Verrill— Cephalopods of the North Atlantic. 129 
The portions of the pen in my possession belong mostly to 
the two ends, with fragments from the middle region, so that 
although neither the actual length nor the greatest breadth can 
be given, we can yet judge very well what its general form and 
character must have been. It was a broad and thin structure, 
of a yellowish brown color, and translucent. Its anterior por- 
inches, at a point -5 inches from the end, where our specimen 
18 broken off; at this place the marginal strips are wanting, 
but the width is 5 inches between the lateral midribs (d, @”), 
which were, perhaps, half an inch from the margin. Along the 
center of the shell, there is a strong, raised, rounded midrib, 
which fades out a short distance from the posterior end, but is 
very conspicuous in the middle and anterior sections. On each 
side of the midrib is a lateral rib of smaller size. These at 
first diverge rapidly from the central one, and then run along 
nearly parallel with the outer margin and about “4 of an inch 
mit, but beyond 11 inches from the point the margins are 
torn off. Like the midrib the lateral ribs gradually fade out 
before reaching the posterior end; near the place where they 
finally isappear, they are about six inches apart. 
The pen of our Architeuthis seems to resemble that of the 
ancient genus Zeudopsis, found fossil in the Jurassic formations. 
rom the above description it will be seen that the most 
"portant and most characteristic features of this species, or 
tather of the genus to which it belongs, are to be found in the 
lingual dentition, in the internal shell, in the form of the caudal- 
and in the cluster of small suckers and tubercles on the 
ong arms. As already stated, the ‘irst three of these peculiari- 
i indicate a low or generalized structure, and therefore a 
rite rank in our system of classification, unless it should be 
ound to have some other characters not yet known and of 
Sais Importance, which might outweigh those here given. 
will appear, therefore, that this genus of huge squids should 
Jour. Seige Serigs, Vou. IX, No. 50.—Fes., 1875. 
