CEPIIALOPODES. 



339 



witfi numerous organs for seizing their prey, they destroy many Fishes and Crusta- 

 ceous animals. 



Their flesh is eatable. Their inky secretion is employed in painting, and from it 

 some have asserted that the China ink of commerce is manufactured.* 



The Cephalopoda comprise only one order f, which we divide into genera from the nature of 

 the shell. Those which have no external shell formed, according to Linnaeus, the single genus 



Sepia, or CuTTLE-FiSH,t 

 which we now subdivide as follows : — 



The Poulpes (Octopus, Lam.); the Polypus of the ancients. 

 These have only two small conical grains of a horny substance imbedded in their back, one on each 

 side ; and their sac, having no fins, represents an oval purse. Their feet are eight in number, all nearly 

 of equal size, very large in proportion to the body, and united together at their insertions by a mem- 

 brane. The Octopus uses them equally in swimming, in creeping, and in seizing its prey. From their 

 length and strength they are formidable weapons, by means of which the prey is entangled and 

 caught ; and they have often been the destruction of swimmers. § The eyes are proportionally small, 

 and the skin can be made at will to contract over them so as to cover them completely. The ink bag 

 is embedded in the liver. The glands of the oviducts are small. 



Some (the Polypes of Aristotle) have their suckers in two alternating: rows along- [the oral margin] of each foot. 

 The common species (Sepia octopodia, Linn.), with a minutely granulous skin, arms six times as long as the 

 body, and garnished with 120 pairs of suckers, infests our coasts in summer, where it destroys an immense 

 quantity of Crustacea. The seas of the tropics produce the Octopus granulatus, Lam. (Seji.a rugosa, Bosc.) 

 S£b. iii. ii. 2, 3, known by its more decidedly granulated body, its arms only a little longer than itself, garnished 

 w ith titty pairs of suckers. Some believe this to be the species which furnishes the China ink of commerce. 



( itlier Poulpes (the Eledons of Aristotle) have only a single row of suckers down each foot. In the .Mediterranean 

 there is a species remarkable for its musky smell : it is the Octopus moschatus, Lam. — Mem. de la 8oc. d'llist. 

 Nat. in 4to, pi. u ; Rundelet, 516. 



The Argonauts (Aryonauta, Linn.)— 

 Are Poulpes with two rows of suckers : the pair of feet nearest the back expand, at their extremities, 

 into a broad membrane. They have not the dorsal cartilaginous spicula of the common Octopus ; but 



we always find these Cuttles in a very thin, 

 regularly-grooved spiral shell, which, from the 

 disproportionate size of the last whorl, has 

 some resemblance to a canoe, the spire repre- 

 senting the poop. The animal uses it t<»' u a 

 boat, for when the sea is calm, groups of them 

 have been seen navigating the surface in it, 

 employing six of their tentacula for oars, and 

 raising, it is said, the two with expanded ex- 

 tremities to serve the purposes <>f sails. If the 

 waves rise, or any danger threatens, the Argo- 

 naut withdraws all its arms into the shell, con- 

 tracts itself there, and descends to tin' bottom. 

 Its body does not penetrate within the spire of 



Fie i5i.-Arnon.ut. the shell, and it appears does not adhere to it, 



at least there is no muscular attachment, and this fact has led some authors to think that the Cuttle is 



a parasite of the same nature as the Hermit-crab || j but as it is always found in the same -hell, a- we 



never find any oilier animal there, although it is very common, ami naturally adapted for rising to the 



I Hence M. Runetqae, ind otbtn following hm, ben made the 

 Mima] n genni under Ibc D 

 being e : . nntU recently, entertained i" i»"<' eatnnlletai 



I., it tli. I advocated l.y t uvicr bu 



i,v the experiment, .'f Mr.. Power. - 

 t/it/erv, conducted i>v Mr. Charleewortn I .ml it"- dlaaeetiooi »nd 

 argument- • ■( Mr. " - en, in ll 



; nil .. here ile- 

 ■Cribedl lh< OUOl the iiu.ndcd srim is I" renin the animal within 



• Howertr, M. Al. Rturoml haa found nothing Id Chlneee anthori 

 'mi this opinion, [wbleb, the tmaalator may add, le now known 

 ■ 

 t i'i,.' dlacovt rtei i t Mr Own bavt proved the neceaaltf of dividing 



tin- I H*- IntO rif'< nrili-r. : -1. Dibham ii I | I » , with |W0 brent 



«tuc ti ill the n'lkrd Cottlo-hah .re example- ; and, -. TlriuHmM it I - 



ata. wit. i font bmnt \ >n'ihi>. and a- inppoaed t>> have been 



in the moltllocular*ahelled foaall Ciuhalopinie*.— Kn. 



j In Blelnvllle'i form tbaordar i <vpt"dilirtmchi-itn. 



J Thla f.ct needs confirmation ; .nit wa need aoarcaly add, th.t the 



Stories of their sinking busts and -hips an- entirely fabulous. — Ell 



its shell.) 



7. 2 



