CEPHALOPODA OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
347 
Color of preserved specimens a semitranslucent grayish white, probably colorless or opalescent 
in life. Chromatophores light brown in color; few in number; minute; most evident are a number 
of very small ones scattered over the posterior portion of the ventral surface of the mantle in advance 
of the fins; there is also a transverse series forming a slightly irregular semicircle on the ventral aspect 
a little distance back of the mantle margin. Two longitudinal series of distantly placed chromatophores 
extend along each tentacle. 
Measurements op Liocranchia globueus. 
Number in author’s register. 
Total length (mantle distended) 
Tip of body to tip of third arms (mantle dis- 
tended) 
Dorsal length of mantle, exclusive of fins 
(distended) 
Dorsallength of mantle, exclusive of fins (not 
distended) 
Maximum width of mantle (distended) 
Extreme length of fins 
Length of fins at base 
262 
282 
Number in author’s register 
262 
282 
mm. 
mm. 
mm. 
mm. 
45 
22 
Width across fins 
7 
4 
26 
14 
Length of — 
Head 
2 
20 
II 
Dorsal arms 
I 
Second arms 
I- 5 
19 
10 
Ventral arms 
2 
4 
2 
Tentacle 
19 
9 
Type. — Catalogue No. 214315, United States National Museum [S. S. B. 262]. 
Type locality. — Albatross station 3878, surface, south of Lanai and west of Kahoolawe, April 14, 
1902; two specimens. 
Distribution. — Hawaiian Islands (Albatross). 
Specimens of Liocranchla globulus Examined. 
Num- 
ber of 
speci- 
mens. 
Locality. 
Depth. 
Collector. 
Remarks. 
Author’s 
register. 
1 
Off Molokini Islet, south of La- 
Surface 
Albatross station 3878 
U. S. Nat. Mus., Cat. 214313; 
262 
nai and west of Kahoolawe. 
type. 
263 
Remarks. — Should this curious form prove to be a valid species, it adds one further member to 
the very remarkable group of aberrant squids which comprise the family Cranchiidcc. The inflated 
saccular mantle here reaches practically the greatest attainable maximum of rotundity, so that a 
specimen looks not unlike a bubble having a few appendages of small size at either pole. The nearest 
ally of our species is self-evidently the L. reinhardtii (Steenstrup), with which indeed it is united by 
Chun, but the latter possesses the characteristic inflation only in vastly less degree. Lbnnberg (1897, 
p. 611) has considered rotundity to be a condition in L. reinhardtii attendant upon immaturity and 
has givcxi figures of an unusually large specimen which is almost loliginiform. However, the largest 
of the Albatross specimens is no whit less spherical than the yoimgest, and in this feature no figures 
or measurements of L. reinhardtii which I can find on record show close approach to any of them. On 
the other hand our knowledge of the limits of variation in these forms, either living or after preservation, 
is still very far from complete, and Chun’s suggestion that this extreme state of inflation is due to a 
sharp contraction of the circular muscles around the mantle opening at the moment the animals were 
killed may prove to be the true explanation. Should this be so, it is somewhat curious that all three 
of the specimens before me chanced to be overwhelmed by the preserving fluid at exactly the same 
moment of contraction. It is believed that the drawings show the true condition with a very fair 
degree of accuracy, as in each case the mantle of the specimen was carefully distended by means of a 
pipette without the exertion of undue pressure, and an attempt was even made to keep the specimens 
so inflated suspended freely in the alcohol while the more important measurements were being taken. 
