198 DR JOHNSTON ON THE CEPHALOPODA OF BERWICKSHIRE. 



the body, winged ; suckers uniserial. Grant in Edin. New Phil. 

 Journal, January 1827, p. 31 1. Oct. octopodia, Flem. Brit. Anim. 

 254. Sepia octopodia, Penn. Brit. Zool. iv. 116. tab. 30. 



Hob. Berwick Bay, frequent. 



Body ovate, rounded at the base, contracted below the eyes, smooth or rather 

 minutely granulated on the back, which is slightly convex, clouded, closely 

 sprinkled over with small reddish-brown dots ; sides rounded, lighter 

 coloured, dotted ; belly flattened, bluish- white, also sprinkled with dots, 

 which, however, are larger, more distant, and arranged in almost regular 

 lines. The arms ..are fully one-half longer than the body, finely tapered, 

 connected together at their origin by a membrane which runs up the ex- 

 terior edge, giving it a winged appearance ; the suckers are in a single 

 row, large, saucer-shaped, with a central hole crenulated on the rim, and 

 the rim plaited in a radiating manner ; towards the base of the arm they 

 are larger and not in contact, but they soon become approximate, and 

 gradually lessening in size they become very minute at the tips ; there are 

 about 100 on each arm. Eyes rather small, of a beautiful orange colour, 

 resembling those of the toad, often concealed by the skin being drawn over 

 them ; the eyelids white, silvery, profusely dotted like the skin. Length 

 of the body, in the largest specimen we have seen, 6 inches ; breadth 

 4 inches ; length of the arms 12 inches. 



Pennant confounded this species with the Octopus vulgaris, nor was it pro- 

 perly distinguished and characterized until Dr Grant gave an excellent 

 history of it in the Journal quoted above. The specific name octopodia, 

 even had it the claim of priority, cannot be retained, since it is synony- 

 mous with the generic one. 



When at rest this octopod lies prone on the belly, the arms spread out in 

 front with their extremities disposed in spirals on the sides. It has in 

 this position considerable likeness to a toad, and often raising the back 

 and head, its aspect is really repulsive and threatening. The changes of 

 colour from reddish-brown to a dull greyish- white, and frequently clouded 

 or spotted with different shades, are made with remarkable velocity, and 

 without any obvious cause. The respiration is regular, and in one speci- 

 men of medium size, respiration was performed eleven times in a minute, 

 at each time a strong cm-rent of water being propelled through the fun- 

 nel, while water flowed in at the sides of the sac in every inspiration. 

 Sometimes the creature would suddenly expel from its funnel a stream of 

 water with unusual force, and lance it forth three or four feet It moves 

 quickly, and always retrograde, playing its arms in a regulated graceful 

 manner which no one can contemplate without wonder in so grotesque a 

 body and apparently so unapt for locomotion. When it swims, the arms 

 are all drawn together and lanced straight out from the head in a column, 

 the body being thus, by successive strokes, driven backwards. Though 

 our specimen was subjected to much irritation it did not eject any of its 

 inky fluid. 



2, LOLIGO. LAMARCK. 



I. L. vulgaris, the fins, together with the tail, forming a rhomboidal 

 expansion ; margin of the sac three-lobed ; dorsal plate narrowed 

 anteriorly, the edges thin. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. vii. 662. Flew. 

 Brit. Anim. 202. Sepia Loligo, Linn. Penn: Brit. Zool. iv. 115. 

 tab. 29. 



Hob. Berwick Bay, not uncommon. 



Body subcylindrical, gradually tapered to the tail (which in drawn in by the 

 fins being continued round it), profusely sprinkled with small reddish- 

 brown dots, which are not perceptible about the mouth, on the inner sur- 



