396 MOLLUSCA: CEPHALOPODA. 



animals readily, tearing their flesh in pieces with their 

 stout hooked beaks. 



Some kinds of Cephalopods attain an enormous size. Aristotle 

 gives an account of one which was five fathoms in length ! In 1853 

 a cuttle-fish whose tentacles were five or six inches in diameter was 

 cast upon the shores of Jutland. In IbGl the officers and crew of the 

 French steamer Alecton saw one, northeast of Teneriffe, which was 

 estimated to be fifteen feet in length, with arms five or six feet long ! 



But the most gigantic species of Cephalopods ever seen 

 have been obtained during the past few years in the 

 North Atlantic, near Newfoundland, * some of which 

 have the body from 10 to 19 feet long, and about 2 feet 

 in diameter, and the "arms" more than 30 feet in 

 length the total length of the Cephalopod, in some 

 cases being 40 or 50 feet ! These gigantic mollusks have 

 the general form of the Squids (Loliyo, Figs. 536 and 

 537). 



There are two Orders of the Cephalopoda : 



1. DlBRANCHIATA or Two gilled Cephalopods ; as Argonavtn, 



Loligo, etc. 



2. TETRABRANCHIATAor Four-gilled Cephalopods; as Nautilus, 



Ammonites, etc. 



SUB-SECTIOIST II. 



THE ORDER OF DIBRANCHIATA OR TWO-GTLLED CEPHA- 

 LOPODS. 



Tins Order comprises Cephalopods which have two 

 branchiae, an ink-gland, and, with few exceptions, a ru- 

 dimentary internal shell the so-called " cuttle-hone." 

 Representatives are found in all latitudes, and in open 

 ocean as well as near the shores. The -Dibranchiata 



* See American Naturalist on " The Uvlvssal C f <^/mZo/vifo of the Nvrth At- 

 /<<," by Professor A. E. Verrill. 



