HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



{he Sepladce. The Sepia {Sepia vulgaris) may be 

 said to be the commonest of our English cuttles. 

 It is somewhat similar in appearance to the common 

 Loligo, but larger and altogether more robust, and 

 has a fin running down both its sides. Though 

 the animal itself is but rarely seen on our coasts, 

 except after a storm, yet the bone or sliell with 

 which it is furnished may be picked up in profusion 

 nearly anywhere. This bone, sometimes called 

 sepiostaire, is for the most part constructed of 

 pure chalk. It is loosely contained under the 

 mantle, on the dorsal side, the apex being situated 

 near the end of the body. The bone seems to be 

 curiously analogous to the backbone of vertebrates, 

 and forms a sort of link between them and the 

 invertebrata. Besides being of use to strengthen 

 the Sepia's body, it is also serviceable in acting as 

 a float 10 buoy the animal up. On examination 

 through the microscope, it will be found to consist 

 of shelly plates, kept a slight distance apart by a 

 series of innumerable small pillars. Viewed through 

 the microscope, either as an opaque object or with 

 polarized light, the effect is very pleasing. One 

 surface is quite hard, while the other is so soft that 

 a deep impression may be made with the nail. The 

 largest-sized sepiostaire I have met with measures 

 rather over seven inches in length and three in 

 breadth. From its being of such a light substance, 

 and formed into air-chambers, it is peculiarly fitted 

 to enable the Sepia to float on the surface of the 

 water without any muscular exertion, and so is a 

 most indispensable adjunct to the animal ; for, 

 unlike the Octopus, the Sepia does not crawl along 

 the bottom of the sea, but swims on the surface, 

 disporting itself amidst a crowd of its fellows. In 

 places on the sea-coast, the cuttle-bone is often 

 given to canaries and other cage-birds, who seem 

 to take a delight in drilling their beaks into the 

 soft, chalky substance. It is also used as a denti- 

 frice, and may frequently be purchased at per- 

 fumers' shops for that purpose. Eorbes says that 

 about the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean the 

 common Sepia is so numerous that the "cuttle- 

 bones " may be seen in places heaped up by the 

 waves into a ridge which fringes the sea for miles. 

 Other peculiar belongings of the Sepia are its eggs, 

 which may be found on the shore sometimes, after 

 stormy weather. The eggs are strangely like a 

 bunch of purple grapes, both in shape and colour ; 

 they are connected in bunches by a sort of footstalk. 

 The ink from this species is of a more intense 

 colour than that from other cuttles. Prom it was 

 originally manufactured Indian ink, and the colour 

 so largely patronized by Claude, — sepia. This ink 

 has been found preserved in the fossil sepias, when 

 none of its qualities were lost. A drawing of a 

 fossil species, together with a description of it, was 

 made out of the ink found therein ; and a celebrated 

 painter, on trying some of the ink, and not being 



aware of its origin, asked where he could procure 

 some more of so excellent a pigment. It is strange 

 that this ink should lose none of its properties after 

 the lapse of so many thousand years. The eyes of 

 the Sepia are prominent, and, when taken from the 

 living creature, of a pearly tint. In some parts of 

 the South of Europe they are strung together when 

 dry and hard, and worn as necklaces. The Sepia 

 is very voracious, and as its food consists chiefly of 

 fish and such crustaceans as crabs and lobsters, it 

 is more especially an object of hatred to fishermen. 

 It seems remarkable that an animal with so exposed 

 a body should be able to overpower the hard-shelled 

 crabs or lobsters; but such is the case, for the 

 Cuttle makes use of its arms and tentacles to tie 

 up the claws of the victim, and then proceeds to 

 tear open the shell with its strong, horny jaws. 

 Sepias are especially fond of visiting the nets which 

 have been laid for fish, and, coming, as they gene, 

 rally do, in great swarms, devour the greater part 

 of their contents. A friend tells me that at Sea- 

 combe, in Devonshire, last August, the fishermen, 

 thinking a shoal of fish was in the bay, put out 

 their nets, and were greatly disgusted to find them 

 filled with cuttles instead of fish. Two hauls were 

 thus taken; the number caught exceeding 400. 



{To be continued.) 



THE GOLDEN MINNOW. 



{Hybognathus osmerimis, Cope.) 



By Charles C. Abbott, M.D. 



TI^E never pass by a group of urchins fishing, 



but we examine their "strings," and, at a 



penny a piece, cut off the few golden minnows they 



may have hooked ; and to be honest about it, when 



Fig. 9. Golien Miimow. {HybogmttUus osmerimis.) 



children of a larger growth have been catching 

 pickerel bait, in the way of cyprinoids generally, 

 w^hich they wouldn't sell, why the writer has 

 " hooked " the golden minnows from the mass of 

 roach, shiners, and dace. We admit a weakness 

 for preserving them from such common uses ; they 

 seem to be all our own, for if Prof. Cope is right, 

 we first detected their peculiarities, and submitting 

 the fish to him, he named it. Then we only knew 

 it as " as a new species " ; but now, as the months 

 have rolled by, we have learned something con- 



