9 6 Proceedings of the Royal Society 
of the mantle with the siphon, so as to leave two openings into the 
branchial cavity. 
Some fragments which were picked up on the surface of the 
North Atlantic are beyond all reasonable doubt referable to the 
curious Alloposus mollis , Verrill. 
The two specimens which for the present constitute the new genus 
Japetella are of great interest, and may be described shortly as a 
kind of pelagic Eledone ; but one of them, J. diaphana , shows 
characters which approximate it to the Cranchiseformes, and it seems 
quite possible that it will ultimately prove not to be congeneric with 
J. prismatica. 
Subjoined are diagnoses of the new forms of Octopoda. 
Octopus, Lamarck. 
Octopus verrucosus , Hoyle. 
Octopus verrucosus , Hoyle, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, vol. xv. 
p. 222, 1885. 
The Body is rounded, but so distorted by compression that no 
further details can be given. The mantle-opening extends fully 
halfway round the body, terminating a little below and behind the 
eye. The siphon is long, evenly conical, and pointed,, and extends 
nearly halfway to the umbrella-margin. 
The Head is short, not so broad as the body, and with eyes but 
slightly prominent. 
The Arms are unequal in length, the second pair being consider- 
ably the longest, and almost six times as long as the body ; they are 
comparatively stout, and taper gradually. The umbrella extends 
about one-fifth up the longest arms. The suckers are fairly close, 
deeply cupped and marked with radial grooves, between which are 
numerous very minute papillae. About four suckers on each lateral 
arm opposite the umbrella-margin are larger than the others ; beyond 
these they gradually diminish. The hectocotylus is present in both 
specimens, and is very minute (about 2 mm. long in the larger); 
it is acutely pointed, and the median groove has three transverse 
ridges. 
The Surface of the back, dorsal surface of head, and umbrella is 
covered with irregular closely-set warts, which attain a maximum 
diameter of several millimetres in the nuchal region ; the warts 
