CLEVER FISHES. 539 



fluid, or sepia, commonly termed by fishermen the ink-bag ; and what 

 a dreadful weapon of offence or defence ink may be, in many cases, 

 there are few of us unaware. The cuttle when closely pursued sends 

 out a cloud of it to hide him from view, and escapes under cover of it. 



Some of the cephalopods possess extraordinary powers of muscular 

 contraction, as the common squid, for example, which is spread out at 

 one moment in a body and volume larger round than a large man's 

 fist, and the next moment will contract itself so that it can easily pass 

 through the cork-hole in a boat or the neck of a wine-bottle. Great 

 sensational attraction has been directed to the octopus by the tremen- 

 dous description of the combat in Victor Hugo's " Toilers of the Sea." 

 No doubt a large octopus, such as are found in the Pacific and else- 

 where, and which sometimes have arms of eight or nine feet in length, 

 could drown a man with the greatest ease, if he had no weapon, and 

 were caught by one under water. From remote ages the deeds of the 

 polypus have been chronicled by poets and writers of strong imagina- 

 tive powers ; and thus we have, probably, the partially fabulous story 

 of the Lernaean hydra, which, if it ever existed at all, had its origin no 

 doubt in the impossible deeds of some improbable octopus. Then there 

 is the story of the king's daughter and the noble diver, who dived for 

 a gold cup and the love of his princess, but profited by neither, since 

 he never came up again, being supposed to have been lassoed by some 

 monster octopus at the bottom of the whirlpool, and many other well- 

 known stories. The beast forms a very great attraction at the Crystal 

 Palace aquarium, where the ladies, of course, insist on calling him 

 " the Devil-Fish " (but that distinguished title belongs to another fish) ; 

 and where he is poked up daily for their inspection, it being one of his 

 diabolical tendencies to dwell "under ebon shades and low-browed 

 rocks." What a life for a poor devil who wants nothing but solitude 

 and retirement, to be a show-devil and at the beck and call . of the 

 ladies ! 



Among other offensive powers commanded by fish and men alike 

 is the very remarkable one of electricity ; it is slightly used in warlike 

 as well as useful purposes. But the possible uses to which we may put 

 electricity ourselves hereafter as an offensive weapon we cannot at pres- 

 ent even guess at. It is a powerful agent to several kinds of fish, and 

 yet ichthyologists are greatly at fault to settle the exact purpose for 

 which it is given to them whether it be for the purpose of killing the 

 animals they prey on, or of facilitating their capture, or whether it be 

 intended to render them more easy of digestion. 



Mr. Couch, in speaking of the properties of electricity and the diges- 

 tive capability of the Torpedo, has the following : " One well-known 

 effect of the electric shock is to deprive animals killed by it of their 

 organic irritability, and consequently to render them more easily dis- 

 posed to pass into a state of decomposition, in which condition the di- 

 gestive powers more speedily and effectively act upon them. If any 



