Biological Results of the University of Miami Deep-Sea Expeditions. 109

Studies on the Cephalopod Family Cranchiidae. A Redescription of Egea Inermis Joubin, 1933

Egea inermis Joubin, 1933, is fully redescribed and illustrated from the postlarval to near mature form based on a reexamination of the type material and fifty-eight newly reported specimens collected in the Atlantic by the Danish research ship DANA and other vessels. Phasmatopsis lucifer G. Voss, 1963, is placed into synonymy. Known geographic and vertical distribution are given. The validity of the genus is reaffirmed, and the relationship of Egea inermis to a small group of nominal species of taoniids which, in part, have been identified to the genus Phasmatopsis de Rochebrune, 1884, by Clarke (1962) is discussed. It is shown that the genus Phasmatopsis cannot be used and that further study is necessary to clarify the existing interrelationship of the group.