AND  ACCOUNT  OF  A  NEW  SPECIES  FROM  THE  INDIAN  SEAS. 
23 
this  marked  external  character.  M.  Le  Sueur  has  represented  his  species  as  covered  with 
numerous,  small,  narrow,  transverse  patches.  The  head  is  short,  and  projects  much  trans- 
versely from  the  great  size  and  almost  pedunculated  form  of  the  eyes.  The  arms,  eight 
in  number,  are  comparatively  short  and  strong,  and  the  disk  from  which  they  originate 
is  separated  externally  by  a  deep  sulcus  from  the  rest  of  the  head.  The  suckers  are  very 
small,  few  in  number,  with  short  peduncles,  and  are  placed  alternately  on  all  the  arms. 
The  posterior  or  upper  pair  of  arms  are  by  much  the  smallest ;  they  measure  five  lines 
in  length,  and  have  about  fourteen  suckers  on  each.  The  second  pair  is  equal  to  the 
inferior  or  front  pair  ;  they  measure  eight  lines,  and  have  about  thirty  suckers  on  each. 
The  third  or  outer  pair  are  longer,  and  much  stronger  than  the  other  arras,  and  may 
compensate  for  the  want  of  tentacula ;  they  are  an  inch  and  a  quarter  in  length,  and 
have  each  thirty-two  small  suckers.  The  third  pair  of  arms  are  those  generally  most 
developed  in  the  Naked  Cephalopods.  At  the  base  of  this  large  pair  and  between  them 
and  the  front  or  inferior  pair  of  arms,  is  seen  on  each  side  a  small  cylindrical  tubercle, 
occupying  the  usual  position  of  the  tentacula  of  other  genera,  and  destitute  of  suckers. 
These  rudimentary  tentacula,  about  a  line  in  length,  of  equal  size,  and  rounded  at  their 
extremity,  present  no  appearance  of  laceration.  If  this  animal  agreed  in  structure  or 
characters  with  any  other  known  genus  of  Cephalopods  possessing  tentacula,  it  might 
be  imagined  that  in  the  present  instance  the  tentacula  had  been  early  and  simultaneously 
cut  off,  and  were  now  being  reproduced.  Neither  Lamarck  nor  M.  Le  Sueur  notices 
these  minute  tubercles  at  the  outside  of  the  inferior  pair  of  arms. 
The  mouth  is  closed  externally  by  a  corrugated  outer  lip\  which  sends  out  a  muscular 
band  to  the  base  of  each  arm,  and  the  usual  circular  fimbriated  lip  within  this  imme- 
diately invests  the  two  small  dark  brown  horny  mandibles.  The  exposed  brown  portion 
of  the  mandibles  is  very  short ;  they  have  sharp  cutting  margins,  and  the  lower  ex- 
tends over  the  point  of  the  upper  mandible.  The  eyes^  are  very  prominent,  and  the 
lens  projects  through  a  circular  fold  of  the  skin,  which  is  spotted  to  the  margin, 
and  passes  transparent  over  the  lens.  Around  the  lens  the  sclerotic  has  a  singular 
tuberculated  appearance,  presenting  seven  round  projecting  eminences  of  a  shining 
silvery  lustre,  hke  so  many  smaller  lenses  placed  around  two  thirds  of  the  eye-ball, 
and  leaving  only  the  posterior  third  of  the  circumference  free.  The  rest  of  the  eye- 
ball has  a  beautiful  deep  purple  colour.  The  peduncle  of  the  eye,  into  which  the  optic 
nerve  enters  as  a  long  round  cord  coming  from  the  distant  supra-CBSophageal  ganglion, 
is  like  a  smaller  eye-ball  placed  behind  the  larger  exterior.  The  surface  of  this  pos- 
terior rounded  peduncle  of  each  eye  has  a  deep  brown  colour,  and  is  composed  of 
fibres  directed  forwards  to  the  base  of  the  eye-ball.  The  same  appearance  is  slightly 
represented  in  the  figure  of  Lol.  cyclura  of  M.  Le  Sueur,  as  seen  from  behind.  The 
funnel  extends  far  forward  from  the  sac ;  it  is  wide,  with  loose  parietes,  but  possesses 
no  trace  of  the  internal  valvular  fold^  which  we  observe  in  Loligo,  Sepia,  and  Sepiola. 
'  Fig.  5.  ^  Fig.  6.  ^  See  fig.  4.  where  it  is  represented  laid  open. 
