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VII. On the genus Ocythoe ; being an extract of a letter from- 
Thomas Say, Esq. of Philadelphia, to Wm. Elford Leach, 
M.D. F.R.S. 
Read February 4, 1819. 
X have before me a specimen of ocythoe in an argonauta , 
forming part of the collection of the Acad, of Nat. Sciences. 
It was taken from the stomach of a dolphin, .which was 
caught in soundings on our Atlantic coast, and is in the most 
perfect state of preservation, not having suffered the slightest 
decomposition from gastric action. 
It is sufficiently distinct from your O. Cranchii , as well as 
from the animal of nautilus sulcatus of Klein ; and if the figure 
given by Shaw of the animal of argonauta argo has any pre- 
tensions to accuracy, it is most probably an unknown species. 
I here attempt a description of it, and also submit a few 
remarks on the genus. 
Ocythoe punctata. 
Body pale, punctured with purplish ; abdomen conic-com- 
pressed, vertical, semifasciate near the summit, with a pro- 
foundly indented transverse line ; arms much longer than 
the body, attenuated, filiform at their tips, alated ; membranes 
rounded. 
Inhabits the Atlantic ocean near the North American coast. 
Descrip. Abdomen conical, slightly compressed, nearly 
vertical with respect to the disk of the head, with a pro- 
foundly indented transverse line, which extends half round, 
near the summit. Arms attenuated, much longer than the 
body, filiform towards the tip, slightly varied with brassy, 
