533 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



heard at a great distance ; a herd of dolphins are scattered as though 

 they were mere sprats, by one stroke of the thresher's tail, and stories 

 of the combats between the whale on the one side and a combination 

 of threshers and sword-fish on the other are too common to need more 

 than a reference here. The form of battle usually consists in the 

 sword-fish stabbing the whale from beneath, and so driving him up to 

 the surface, when the fox-sharks spring ujjon him, and with resonant 

 blows from their fearful knouts drive him below again upon the weap- 

 ons of their allies. 



The lasso is a weapon of some efficacy among various people ; a 

 form of lasso was even used by the Hungarians, and with great effect, 

 in the War of Independence. It consisted of a kind of long-lashed whip, 

 with a bullet slung at the end of the lash. And we have a sort of liv- 

 ing lasso in the foot of the Cephalopod. The cephalopods are the 

 polypes of Aristotle, and belong to the mollusks. They are of the first 

 order of invertebrate, or spineless animals. Mollusca cephalopoda is 

 the style and titles of the family Cephalopoda, in English meaning 

 " foot-headed " that is, its organs of locomotion, or the greater part 

 of them, are attached to its head, whence they radiate for the most 

 part in long, tough, and pliant tentacles or arms, of great muscular 

 powers. On these tentacles are placed rows of suckers of very singu- 

 lar construction, Avhich singly or simultaneously adhere with great 

 tenacity to any object they come in contact with. The arms are ex- 

 tended in all directions when seeking prey. In the centre of them, in 

 the middle of the stomach as it were, is the mouth of the creature, 

 which is fully as curious as the rest of its anatomy, and consists of a 

 large and strong-hooked beak, similar to a hawk's or parrot's. A fish 

 or other creature comes within reach, and is instantly lassoed by one 

 of the tentacles, the others winding around it also, to secure it in their 

 folds. It is compressed tightly and drawn down to the beak, which 

 rends and devours it at leisure, escape from these terrible folds being 

 almost impossible. 



The arms are also the means of propulsion, and are used as oars, by 

 the aid of which the Octopus manages to progress through the water 

 w T ith considerable rapidity. Mr. Wood, in his popular natural history, 

 treats on this point as follows : " All the Squids are very active, and 

 some species, called ' flying squids ' by sailors, and ommastrephes by 

 naturalists, are able to dash out of the sea and to dart to considerable 

 distances ; " and he quotes Mr. Beale to show that they sometimes 

 manage to propel themselves through the air for a distance of 80 or 

 100 yards, the action being likened to a something which might be 

 achieved by a live corkscrew with eight prongs. In the account given 

 m Bennett's " Whaling Voyage " they are often spoken of as leaping 

 on board the ship, and even clear over it into the water on the other 

 side. Nature has also furnished the cephalopod with another curious 

 weapon of offence, or defence rather, in the shape of a bag of black 



