. Cephalopoda. Cephalopoda. FIGURE 93. Loligo vulgaris. The young specimen shown in Plate 2, natural size. Drawn after a nearly dead animal, all proportions being exactly measured. The tentacles are shown in their natural position, but not in contact as in the live animal (cf. p. 158). The arms have been spread. Note particularly the position of the swimming margins on the clubs, the curvature of the cornea, the orbital pore, the eyeball and iris flap (b),the pupil and lens (black), the form of the mantle mar- gin and the outline of the fins. 202 The length/width ratio of the gladius of mature


. Cephalopoda. Cephalopoda. FIGURE 93. Loligo vulgaris. The young specimen shown in Plate 2, natural size. Drawn after a nearly dead animal, all proportions being exactly measured. The tentacles are shown in their natural position, but not in contact as in the live animal (cf. p. 158). The arms have been spread. Note particularly the position of the swimming margins on the clubs, the curvature of the cornea, the orbital pore, the eyeball and iris flap (b),the pupil and lens (black), the form of the mantle mar- gin and the outline of the fins. 202 The length/width ratio of the gladius of mature males with a dorsal mantle length of 18—35 cm varies from 7 to , that of mature females of 18—29 cm length from 6— Large, fully mature specimens show the extreme values. However, there is no strict regularity, since sexual maturity does not always appear at the same size. I found females only 12 cm long, but already mature and mated. I did not find mature males less than 20 cm long. On the other hand, I hear from creditable sources that specimens of 1 m length or more (without tentacles) have been found. The large male shown in Figure 91 on p. 199 is not completely mature. The epigamic coloration of the male shows some characters which are never found in females. Several reddish brown transient eye-spots appear on the fins, while dark longitudinal lines appear along the fin base. The ventral midline of the mantle forms a thin, dark skin fold, and the sides of the mantle show several short longitudinal stripes which are similar, but much snnaller and less intensely colored than in L. forbesi. Before the modified end of the hectocotylus of the male L. vulgaris, the median row bears 25—27 normal suckers, not counting the first sucker, even if it apparently belongs to the median row. There is a larger number of normal suckers in young specimens, so that a successive conversion of typical into atypical suckers, beginning at the apex, has to be assumed. 187. Please no


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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionbiodivers, booksubjectcephalopoda