2 94 Dr. Leach’s observations on the 
Guinea, and afterwards on the voyage, he took (by means of 
a small net, (which was always suspended over the side of 
the vessel) several specimens of a new species of Ocythce, 
which were swimming in a small argonauta , on the surface 
of the sea. 
On the 1 3th of June, he placed two living specimens in a ves- 
sel of sea water ; the animals very soon protruded their arms, 
and swam on and below the surface, having all the actions 
of the common polypus of our seas : by means of their suckers, 
they adhered firmly to any substance with which they came 
in contact, and when sticking to the sides of the basin, the 
shell might easily be withdrawn from the animals. They had 
the power of completely withdrawing within the shell, and 
of leaving it entirely. One individual quitted its shell, and 
lived several hours, swimming about, and showing no incli- 
nation to return into it ; and others left the shells, as he was 
taking them up in the net. They changed colour, like 
other animals of the class cephalopoda ; when at rest the 
colour was pale flesh-coloured, more or less speckled with 
purplish ; the under parts of the arms were bluish grey ; the 
suckers whitish. 
The Ocythoe differs generically from the polypus, in having 
shorter arms, with pedunculated instead of simple suckers; 
the superior arms too are dilated into, or furnished with, a 
wing-like process on their interior extremities. 
All the internal organs are essentially the same as in the 
polypus, although they are somewhat modified in their pro- 
portion ; but as these differences may be the result of the 
contraction caused by the spirits, in which they are preserved, 
k may be more prudent not to dwell on them. Two cha- 
