HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



271 



backboue is to be found, corresponding in its nature 

 and construction with tlie shells of mollusks. The 

 sexes are distinct in the Odopoda ; the males are 

 hedocotyllzed. Such voracious creatures multiplying 

 in such a large ratio would quickly depopulate the 

 seas, were there no counterbalancing power at hand. 

 The Cuttles have many formidable enemies, who 

 decimate their ranks and help to preserve a proper 

 equilibrium. Not the least formidable of these is 

 the Cachalot, or Sperm Whale, a cetacean of huge 

 proportions. Another enemy of the race is the Cod 

 family, chiefly inhabiting the banks of Newfound- 

 land. The bait used iiy the cod-fishers is generally 

 a cuttle. The numbers caught by man alone for this 

 purpose may be well imagined from the following 

 data. In early spring, England sends forth to the 

 cod-fishery about 2,000 ships, Erance 1,000, and 

 America about 3,000. On an average each ship is 

 reckoned to catch about 40,000 fishes, so that the 

 amount of cuttles caught by man for bait must 

 number several millions, and many more will be 

 eaten by the Cod on its own account. Tunnies, 

 dolphins, and bonitos devour them ; various sea- 

 birds seize them on the surface of the ocean ; and 

 lastly, man himselfi both eats them and more fre- 

 quently uses them as bait for all kinds of fish. In 

 tropical seas cuttles attain to an enormous size, 

 although their magnitude in a great many instances 

 has been much exaggerated. Peron saw one as big 

 as a tun, near Van Diemeu's Land, rolling abou.t its 

 great body in the water. A dead cuttle was found 

 in the Atlantic whose weight, when perfect, must 

 have been not less than two cwt. : this was floating 

 on the surface of the sea, and partly devoured by 

 birds. As for fiction, Pernetti mentions a huge 

 monster which overturned a three-masted ship by 

 climbing up the rigging ! D'Orbigny relates that 

 Denys Moutfort having represented a " kraken 

 octopod " performing the above feat, declared that 

 if it were " swallowed," he would represent the 

 monster embracing the Straits of Gibraltar. The 

 " kraken octopod " is a Norwegian invention ; it has 

 a backa quarter of a mile in diameter, covered with 

 sea-weed. It but rarely appears on the surface, but 

 on one occasion, so the story runs, some fishermen 

 landed, and lighted a fire, supposing it to be an 

 island. The " kraken " must evidently have been 

 slightly tickled by this, as it then sunk to the bot- 

 tom with its human load. Pliny too does not fail 

 ' to give us a description of a gigantic cuttle with 

 arms thirty feet long, and so forth. In fact people 

 seemed never tired of fabricating absurd stories of 

 these animals ; but with all this fabrication there is 

 of course some little truth, all the stories being 

 founded on large-sized cuttles, whose proportions 

 either terror, or a desire to rival the story of Sinbad 

 the Sailor, caused them to greatly exaggerate. 

 Having now taken a general view, we will examine, 

 in a future paper, the most interesting species- 



The arrangement will be found to be that of Wood- 

 ward, in his " iManual of the MoUusca," a work 

 whose practical value to the general conchologist 

 cannot be too highly spoken of. The first division 

 of the Cephalopoda is founded on the difference of 

 the bran chial systems, and is called the Dibranchiata, 

 or two-gilled; the second the Tetrabranchiala, 

 or four-gilled. All cuttles which are placed in the 

 first division have two gills for breathing, while 

 those placed in the second, of which there is at 

 present living only one genus, the Chamber Nautilus, 

 are furnished with four gills. 



{To be continued ?j 



OUR LARGEST SALAMANDER. 



( Menopoma Alleghaniensis.) 



Py Chaules C. Abbott, M.D. 



MY companion excitedly uttered a word that 

 would have shocked many of my readers. 

 " Nothing else you know it by ? " I asked, after a 

 pause, during which we watched the slimy reptile 

 move slowly along the muddy bank. " yes, out 

 in our rivers they are called ' Ground-puppies ' 

 by some folks, and 'Tweegs ' and 'Mud-devils.' " 



" That will do for a list — let's see if we can catch 

 him." 



We tried long and faithfully, but all in vain, and 

 this queer creature still haunts the mouth of Belle 

 brook, as it dances over shining rocks to join the 

 brimming river. 



I had never seen this creature before, which is 

 not naturally an inhabitant of the Delaware, but my 

 friend from Pittsburg was familiar with them. How 

 they got so far east as New Jersey I cannot tell, 

 but believe the travelling menageries have had 

 something to do with it ; for we have seen them 

 exhibited at Trenton, N.J., as the Australian 

 OrnlthorJiijiichus parodoxiis ! Is not that a commen- 

 tary, by the way, on our knowledge of zoology? 

 The " Hell-bender " is not very abundant at any one 

 locality, and judging from the conversations of the 

 " oldest inhabitants," are much less numerous than 

 formerly; but now that they have accidentally 

 been introduced into the Delaware, perhaps they 

 will prove "a success " numerically, as the Black- 

 bass [Gnystes fascial us) have certainly done ; and 

 let us hope also the same for the Salmon. 



Here, in the Delaware, the Menopoma has an 

 excellent appetite, and devours an astonishing 

 number of small cyprinoids during the day. The 

 little miimows {Ilybopsis procne) have not yet go 

 used to him, so are swallowed without ceremony 

 by the ungainly but not clumsy creature. 



Worms and crabs {Astacus and Cambarus, we 

 suppose) are also said to be preyed upon by the 

 Menopoma, but we have never seen him eat any- 



