HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE-G OSSIP. 



it can possibly stow away in its capacious stomach, 

 these small gentry act as its scavengers, and clear 

 away the remains of each feast in the neatest 

 manner. The skin of the Poulp is furnished with 

 several colour-glands, which enable the animal to 

 vary its tint in a manner very similar to that of the 

 Chameleon. In a chase after one which I had dis- 

 turbed, I was pleased to notice that when darting 

 over sandy ground, its colour became very much 

 ligl'.ter than before, whilst directly it approached a 

 rocky or shingly portion of the coast, a darker hue 

 pervaded its body. Darwin, in that most interest- 

 ing of books, his " Journal of a Voyage Round the 

 World," gives a pleasing account of the Octopi at 

 St. lago. After a description of their rapid motion, 

 and methods of escaping notice, he goes on to say 

 that any part of the skin of the Octopus, on being 

 subjected to a slight shock of galvanism, becomes 

 quite black : a similar effect, but in a less degree, is 

 produced by scratching the skin with a needle. These 

 clouds, or blushes, as they may be called, are said 

 to be produced by the alternate expansion and con- 

 traction of minute vesicles containing variously- 

 coloured fluids. This gentleman whilst looking for 

 marine animals, with his head near the rocks, was 

 more than once saluted by a jet of water, accom- 

 panied by a slight grating noise. On examination, 

 he found out that this was a cuttle which, though 

 concealed in a hole, thus led to its discovery. "That 

 it possesses the power of ejecting water," says 

 Darwin, " there is no doubt, and it appeared to me 

 that it could certainly take good aim by directing the 

 tnbe or siphon on the under part of its body." As 

 the Octopus darts along, the dilation and subsequent 

 contraction of the sac is very plain, and the rush of 

 the water through the funnel is also easily discernible. 

 Its first action on being disturbed is to discharge 

 some of the ink with which it is furnished, in order 

 to cover its retreat. This ink is of a more viscid 

 nature than ordinary writing ink, and when spurted 

 forth does not become generally suffused, but forms 

 a dense cloud about the animal, and ultimately 

 settles down to the ground. Even if all its supply 

 of ink has been discharged, the Octopus in a few 

 hours has a full battery ready for use again. The 

 flesh of the Octopus is sometimes used as food, but 

 only by the poorer classes of the seaside population. 

 In the Levant, (according to "A. M. B.," Science- 

 Gossip, June, 18G5), a species of Octopus, going by 

 the name of Octopoda, is very troublesome to the 

 fishermen, but much esteemed as an article of con- 

 sumption. The method of preparing it for table in 

 those Eastern quarters, is to beat it for an hour or 

 so against a rock, and afterwards serve it up as a 

 fricassee, or otherwise. Horrible to think of, some 

 savages eat the Octopus raw — what a strange taste 

 is this ! In the Octopoda, no shell, internal or ex- 

 ternal, is visible ; they are said to be highly luminous 

 in the dark, and Pliny, quoting Bartholinns, says 



so great was the luminosity proceeding from them 

 ' ut totum palatium ardere vlderetur." There are 

 upwards of forty species of Octopus known ; their 

 eggs are usually deposited in the spring on sea- 

 weeds or empty shells. 



We now come to Section B, the Ten-footed 

 Cuttles, or Decapoda. The chief peculiarity of the 

 animals comprised in this section consists ia their 

 having, in addition to the eight arms such as are 

 possessed by the Octopus, two long tentacles, whose 

 ends are expanded and furnished with stickers. 

 These tentacles, in all but one genus, can be drawn 

 within a sort of pouch situated below the eyes ; they 

 are of use to the cuttles for seizing their prey, and 

 also for mooring the animals fast to the rocks, when 

 the stormy weather would threaten them with 

 destruction. The suckers of cuttles of this section 

 are of a different description to those before men- 

 tioned, being what is termed pedunculated, and 

 more prominent. The dissimilarity chiefly consists 

 in their being surrounded by a horny ring. Their 

 bodies are rather elongated, and contain a shell 

 which in some species is calcareous, and in others 

 horny ; it is not fastened to the body of the animal, 

 but contained loosely in the mantle. The Decapods 

 are mostly gregarious, and frequent the high seas 

 in great numbers, moving about periodically from 

 the northern and southern zones. They are divided 

 into four families, the TeutUdce, Belemnitidee. 

 Sepiadcs, and SpiraUdte, a few genera of each of 

 which we shall examine in their order. Our first 

 decapod, a member of the Teuthidce, or Calamaries 

 is a very abundant animal on our coasts. Refer- 

 ence to the illustration of the Squid {Loligo 

 vulgaris), for that is the creature's name, will show 

 that in this species the arms are very short, and the 

 body much elongated. An expansion of the mantle 

 on each side of the caudal extremity forms a pair of 

 fins, by means of which the Squid is able to swim 

 very swiftly. The most curious part of the animal 

 is its shell, or pen, as it is called, a horny substance 

 analogous to the bone in the Sepia. This pen may 

 be seen figured, together with the illustration of the 

 animal ; it resembles an ordinary quillpen in general 

 shape, and acts as a sort of backbone to the 

 creature. Several " pens " have been found in the 

 body of a single squid, so that it is thought that 

 they increase with the age of the animal. Prom 

 possessing this peculiar appendage, the Squid has 

 had the name of Sea-pen given to it. The pen is of 

 a horny transparent substance, and has been found 

 in a fossil state. Like most other cuttles, the Squid 

 is furnished with a supply of ink. Prom these two 

 characteristics, I think it might very appropriately 

 be called the " Pen-and-ink Cuttle." A lady at 

 Lyme Regis, Miss Mary Anning, was the first to 

 discover the ink-bags of the Loligo in a fossil state 

 in that neighbourhood. They are found distended 

 just as when they formed parts of the living animal 



