90 



MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN 



VOL. XIV, 



certainly so far as my experience goes, the octopus is the most 

 brainy creature in the seas apart from whales and seals. I have 

 seen the larger European species play pranks on one another, 

 tamper with the pipe fittings in their tank, make a regular toilet 

 when the innumerable suckers on their arms wanted cleaning, and 



Fig. 22.— The Sacred Chank. 

 {7\irbinella piriiin'). X \- 



Fig. 23. — Egg capsule of the 

 Chank. 



Xf. 



change colour according to their surroundings when crawling 

 stealthily over the bottom ; when cornered they employ the com- 

 mon cuttlefish device of discharging a cloud of ink from their body 

 and under cover of this often make good their escape. They have 

 eight slender arms, each beset with two rows of suckers ; with 



