small mollusks will assume a new meaning as being the last survivors 

 of a large group of animals of which all except the Spirula are extinct. 

 Probably the best known of the shelless Cephalopoda is the Octopus, 

 with its rounded body, large eyes, and long arms. 



The Octopus is found abundantly throughout temperate and tropical 

 seas, generally near the coast among rocks, but frequently on the sandy 

 bottom, in water of moderate depth. On the sandy bottoms it may 

 occasionally be seen "walking" clumsily along on its eight long arms, 



its little round body being 

 balanced above. It has been 

 seen to use its dorsal pair of 

 arms as the land snail does its 

 tentacles. Its favorite posi- 

 tion, however, is among the 

 rocks. In such a locality 

 it will squeeze its body into 

 some cavity and spread out 

 its arms until they form a 

 sort of web, resembling, in 

 this position, a huge spider 

 waiting for its prey. And it 



may well be likened to a 

 ^^ for f rom ^ Ret ^^ 



is no escape if the hapless fish 

 has come in contact with the powerful suckers on the long arms. The 

 poor fish is paralyzed when seized by the Octopus, and is drawn towards 

 the mouth, where it is torn to pieces by the beak-like jaws and swallowed. 

 Like many other mollusks, the Octopus is esteemed by several savage 

 tribes, as well as by some civilized people, as a valuable article of food. 

 By the native of the Pacific coast the Octopus is caught by a very 

 ingenious method. Providing himself with a spear twelve or fourteen 

 feet long, which has four or five barbed pieces of hard wood some 

 fourteen inches long attached to one end, the Indian paddles his canoe 

 to the feeding-ground of the mollusk. One is soon found in ten 

 or twelve feet of water, and the Indian carefully lowers his spear until 

 within a few inches of the center of the animal, when he quickly plunges 

 it into the soft mass. Instantly the water is in commotion, the eight 

 long arms writhing about in an endeavor to reach the boat. The 

 Indian knows that should this happen, his chances of life would be slim 

 indeed. But he is prepared for the onset, and carefully lifting up the 

 Octopus with his barbed spear until it is above the surface of the water, 



136 



Octopus tuberculatus. Notice the short, rounded 

 bodj and long arms provided with suckers. (Wood- 



