HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE -GOSSIP. 



The next cuttle which we shall examine is the 

 Octopus (oKTw, octo, eight, and ttoiic, pons, a foot), 

 or Poulp. Many are the names that have been 

 given to this species,— Sucker, Man-sucker, Blood- 

 sucker, and Devil-fish, being amongst them. _A 

 species of this genus was the celebrated Polypus of 

 the ancients, performing all sorts of wonders and 

 terrible deeds. As I now sit, there are three of 

 our English Poulpes, Octopus vulgaris, staring at 

 me witli their huge dark eyes, and in their present 

 condition looking inexpressibly ugly. These three 

 creatures I procured a few months ago, and iu order 

 to be able to examine their organization more 

 closely, had them immersed in spirits of wine, and 

 secui ely corked up. As our English Octopus is as 

 good a representative of its kind as any, we will 

 take it as our example. Many are the little 

 adventures 1 have had with the Octopus. By going 

 out to its haunts, several opportunities of seeing it 

 in its many different conditions have been offered 

 to me. For a general appearance of the animal I 

 must refer my readers to the ilhistration, merely 

 observing that when in the following lines any 

 mention is made of " ventral or dorsal " sides or 

 feet, by " dorsal " is meant the side on which the 

 funnel is situated ; and by " ventral " the opposite. 

 As its name implies, the Octopus has eight fleshy 

 arras or feet, which on an average are about twice the 

 length of the body, are very muscular and flexible, 

 and taper down to a point little thicker than ordi- 

 nary twine. Along the whole under-surface of 

 these arms is situated a series of circular discs or 

 suckers, of strange construction. These suckers 

 are fixed in pairs, except the first half-dozen near 

 the mouth, which are placed immediately over each 

 other ; they form the chief means by which the 

 Poulp is enabled to seize its prey, and are of curious 

 construction. To describe them, I cannot do better 

 than liken them to the pneumatic pegs so largely 

 used by photographers, and for fastening on to 

 «hop-windows. Like these pegs, the suckers have 

 around the outside a broad soft band, which in the 

 ■case of the pegs is made of india-rubber, and in 

 that of the Octopus of a fleshy substance. This 

 band then leaves a cavity in the centre, and to this 

 hollow is attached a muscular piston, exactly fitting 

 the aperture, capable of being worked up and down 

 at the will of the animal. When, tlierefore, the 

 surface of this sucker is pressed against any sub- 

 stance, the withdrawal of the piston creates a 

 ■vacuum, and powerful adhesion takes place. 

 Having seized its victim by encircling it with his 

 arms, the Octopus drags the unfortunate animal to 

 the powerful horny mandibles with wliich it is 

 furnished, and makes short work of it. These 

 mandibles are similar to the beak of a parrot, and 

 are of great strength, being able to break through 

 the hard shelly covering of crabs or lobsters. 

 Endued with so much strength, the Octopus makes 



its jaws very efi'ective weapons, such that a close ac- 

 quaintance with them when the animal is alive is far 

 from desirable. A Mr. Beale has described an en- 

 counter he had with an Octopus in the Bonin Islands, 

 where he was searching for shells. It seems that Mr. 

 Beale, seeing one of these strange-looking monsters 

 on the rocks, endeavoured to stop its progress by 

 pressing on one of its legs with his foot. As the 

 animal still persisted in its attempts to escape, he 

 caught hold of one of its arms, and tried to dis- 

 engage it from the rocks, when the animal, evidently 

 enraged, loosing its hold from the stones, sprang on 

 his arm, and prepared to bite it with its beak. Had 

 not a friend been at hand, the consequences might 

 have been serious ; but, fortunately, a companion 

 came up, and released Mr. Beale from his ferocious 

 assailant by means of a large boat-knife. Thus we 

 see, the Octopus when enraged does not hesitate to 

 attack man himself, in self-defence. The number 

 of suckers possessed by our common Octopus falls 

 but little short of two thousand ; their application 

 to the human skin is said to cause pain and inflam- 

 mation. My own experience has not led me to 

 verify this statement ; for, although in searching 

 under the rocks, in such places as the Octopus loves 

 to haunt, I have often had my hand seized by its 

 tenacious arms, yet on releasing myself, no subse- 

 quent feeling of pain whatsoever has resulted. The 

 cold, slimy grasp of this small creature is by no 

 means pleasant ; how much more so must that of 

 the larger species be ? The food of this cuttle 

 consists chiefly of mollusks, which it collects and 

 brings to its den. The fact of the Poulp having a 

 regular den is rather curious, as one would have 

 supposed that an animal so low iu creation, and of 

 such a predatory nature, would devour its prey on 

 the spot. The place chosen for the den is generally 

 an isolated piece of rock, situated on the sand, 

 where the hollow which is generally to be found 

 round about such stones, forms a convenient place 

 for the Octopus to stow itself, and deposit its booty. 

 The large otter-shells {Lutraria), with those of the 

 genus Tapes, and various others, form its favourite 

 food. Often after bringing the creature out of its 

 den, a feat best performed by means of a large fish- 

 hook attached to a stick, many excellent shells, 

 with the animals still undevoured, may be found. 

 An amusing fact is that the Octopus nearly always 

 has a number of hangers-on, in the shape of small 

 Hermit Crabs {Pagums), mostly tenants of a 

 common top-shell {Trochus chiereus). These para- 

 sitical hosts, on being disturbed, present a most 

 ridiculous spectacle in their hurry to be ofl". En- 

 deavouring to clamber up the bank of sand, they 

 naturally only bring down a heap of it with them- 

 selves, and to sec twenty or more of these droll 

 little creatures rushing franctically up, and then 

 falling back again pell-mell, is most laughable. As 

 the Octopus is addicted to getting more food thau 



