ON SOME OICtOPSID CUTTLE FISHES. 
91 
stellate organs and pigment spots, and the absence of Verrill’s 
organ in Chiroteuthis which is present in Doratopsis. 
Some of the main points of agreement between Histioteuthis 
and Chiroteuthis, besides shape and proportion of body, are the 
pigmented (phosphorescent ?) organs on the body and arms, 
the suckers (modified) on the tentacular arms, and, perhaps 
above all, the presence of renal papillae in both Chiroteuthis, 
and Histioteuthis, which Vigelius, 1 (14) in describing those 
of Thy sail oteuthi s rhombus, believed to occur only in 
that member of the group of Oigopsida. 
Besides this they agree in the course of the vena cava, the 
single renal chamber, and the extent of the coelom. On the 
other hand, now that the great differences which separated the 
Chiroteuthidae from the other Oigopsidae, notably the absence 
of siphonal valve, single oviduct, &c., have been disproved, I 
see no reason why we should not place the subfamily of Chiro- 
teuthidae in the family of Ommastrephini side by side with the 
subfamilies of Thysanoteuthidae, Ommastrephidae, and Masti- 
goteuthidae, and thus abolish the family of Taonoteuthidae, the 
name of which was not distinctive nor descriptive of any of its 
genera. The Chiroteuthidae have some points in common 
with all the subfamilies of the Ommastrephini, but especially 
many and indeed important ones with the Thysanoteuthidae ; 
and I should place the Chiroteuthidae next to this subfamily 
on account of the following points of agreement. 
The short arms of both Thysanoteuthis and Histioteuthis 
are not so unequal as are those of Chiroteuthis. In Thysano- 
teuthis 2 they are protected by two large, fluted, membranous 
folds, which might easily be developed into the connecting 
umbrella of Histioteuthis. 
The long arms in Histioteuthis and Thysanoteuthis agree 
strikingly. The club has in both four rows of suckers, two of 
1 Vigelius, ‘ Mittheilungen der zool. Station Neapel,’ 1831. 
5 Two specimens of Thysanoteuthis rhombus are preserved in the 
museum of University College, and have been placed at my disposition for 
study. They were obtained by Professor Lankester from the Zoological 
Station of Naples. 
