of Edinburgh, Session 1884-85. 
95 
specimens (many of them fragmentary) were obtained, which bear 
interesting relations to those already known. 
The following synopsis 
will indicate the general nature of the 
collection : — 
Genera. 
Previously 
known species. 
New species. 
Octopus , Lamk., 
7 
11 
Alloposus , VI!, 
1 
Eledone , Leach, 
1 
2 
Japetella , Hoyle, 
2 
Cirroteuthis , Eschr., 
3 
Amphitretus , Hoyle, 
Tremoctopus , d. Ch. 
2 
1 
Argonauta , Linn. 
1 
The distribution of the species obtained furnishes an important 
instance of the general rule that while pelagic forms belong to but 
few species, each of which has a wide range of distribution, littoral 
genera are represented by very many species each confined within a 
narrow area. In the case of the Cephalopoda this law has been 
expressed by Professor Steenstrup in his division of both Octopoda 
and Decapoda into two groups, littorales and pelagici ; * to the 
former of these belongs the genus Octopus of which a distinct type 
was furnished by almost every resting-place of the expedition. Out 
of about eighteen species collected sixteen came not from dredg- 
ing stations, but from shore collections ; and of those obtained by 
the dredge or trawl only two were found in depths exceeding 500 
fathoms. 
The genus Eledone furnished two new species ; one characterised 
by a short stumpy contour, and the other interesting as purporting 
to come from a great depth (1950 fathoms). 
The most striking novelties of the Octopoda are to be found 
among the pelagic forms. The genus Cirroteuthis, hitherto known 
only from the coast of Greenland, has been found also in the Southern 
and Pacific Oceans ; and the specimen from the former locality is 
remarkable for its size, which exceeds one yard in length. 
Allied to Cirroteidhis is the new genus Amplntretus , which 
possesses a modification, unique among Cephalopoda, in the fusion 
* Oversigt k. dansk. Yid. Selsk. Forhandl., p. 69, 1861. 
