25 Part I[1.—Twenty-eighth Annual Report 
Mo.uusca. 
With the exception of one or two species of Cephalopoda, Mollusca were 
rarely met with, the only species of shell-fish observed being Fusus antiquus, 
which occurred on one or two occasions ; the halibut did not apparently 
take the whole shell, but simply snapped off the extended head as far as it 
reached beyond the protecting shell. The operculum of one /usws—a large 
specimen—taken thus unawares, measures across the longest diameter 60 
millimetres by about 33 millimetres at the widest part. But though shell- 
fish were rare, Cephalopods were tolerably frequent, though sometimes the 
brown horny jaws were all that was left to represent the cuttlefish—the soft 
body having rapidly succumbed to the solvent action of the gastric fluid. In 
seve ral cases, however, fairly complete specimens were obtained, showing 
that the cuttlefish had been swallowed whole, the body first, with the tentacles 
streaming behind, as was apparent from the position of the organism in the 
stomach. The cuttlefishes observed belonged to three, or perhaps four genera, 
viz., Loligo, Hledone (and probably Octopus), and Ommatostrephes. The 
Eledone and Octopus are Octopods—that is, they are provided with eight 
tentacles ; they differ in the Hledone having tentacles with a single row of 
suckers and the Octopus with a double row—the suckers of the one row 
alternating with those of the other. This, which is one of the more obvious 
differeuces between the two, is in the case of a partly digested specimen 
somewhat difficult to make out. The specimens, however, which were 
sufficiently perfect for identification were found to be H/edones—probably 
Eledone cirrcosa. Several specimens of Loligo were observed, but with the 
exception of perhaps one or two, they all belonged to Loligo vulgaris 
(Lamarck). None of them appeared to be full grown, and the shell (or bone) 
of the largest specimen measured only 7% inches (about 20 centimetres) in 
length, and 13 inches (3°5 centimetres) in width at the widest part. The 
shell of a smaller specimen was rather narrower in proportion to the length; 
this one measured fully 4; inches (110 mm.) by 3 of an inch (16 mm.) 
in width. Ommatostrephes was represented by a piece of the anterior end 
of the shell (or bone) of a specimen of moderate size. 
THE ECHINODERMATA. 
The Echinodermata were only sparingly represented by fragments of 
Spatangus and a nearly complete but crushed specimen of Cidaris papillata. 
The discs and arms of a few Ophiurids were also observed, but these were 
probably derived from the stomachs of Gadoids which the halibut had 
swallowed. 
THE ANNELIDS. 
Traces of Annelids (Chetopods) were observed in a few stomachs, but 
these, like the Ophiurids mentioned above, may have come from the stomach 
of a fish swallowed by the halibut. 
TABLE SHEWING NUMBER OF FisHES EXAMINED. 
The following is a tabulated summary of the total number of stomachs 
examined each month, the number containing food that could be identified, 
and the number empty, or the contents of which could not be determined :— 
[ TABLE. 
