The aim of this paper is to collate and extend, where possible, the knowledge of the Sepiidae of southern Africa (defined by Day 1967: vu, as Africa south of the twentieth parallel of latitude). Hitherto, the sepiids have been described in various papers dealing with South African cephalopods (e.g. Robson 1924a, b; Massy 1925, 1927, 1928; Voss 1962b, 1967) and in some detail by Adam and Rees (1966) in their excellent review of the family. The collection in the South African Museum, however, comprises some 664 animals and 411 shells, belonging to 18 species, and these specimens provide a number of interesting additions to our knowledge of the southern African Sepiidae. Three new species and the female animal of Sepza insignis (previously known only by its shell) are described.