254 MOLLUSCA. CEPHALOFODA. Octopus. 



46. O. octopodia. — Body rounded, smooth, mantle connect- 

 ed with the head behind ; suckers sessile, arranged in a single 

 row. 



Sepia Oct. Penn. Brit. Zool. iv. 53. t. xxviii. f. 44. 



This species appears to have been confounded with the preceding. Pen- 

 nant states, that it inhabits our seas ; and Montagu is said, by Mr Sowerby, 

 to have communicated a specimen to him, probably from the coast of Devon. 



Dr Grant has obligingly communicated to me the following observations 

 on a recent, apparently full grown specimen from the Frith of Forth, pre- 

 sented to him by Mr John Coldstream. Length of the body 4| inches, of the 

 head 2 inches; breadth of the body ?4 inches ; arms 12 inches long, webbed 

 at the base as high as the twelfth sucker, compressed, strong, the extremities 

 filiform. Suckers becoming larger to the sixth, and then diminishing to- 

 wards the extremity, with a broad muscular margin; about 111 can be 

 counted, with the aid of a lens, on each arm. Eyes very small, with a sub- 

 dorsal aspect, and near covered with distinct eyelids, and having the iris 

 white. The absence of the musky smell distinguishes this species from the 

 Octopus moscliatus of Lamarck. 



The different species of Sepiadte secrete an inky fluid, differing, however, 

 in the shade of colour according to the species, which they eject upon being 

 pursued or captured. 



The collection of Mr Miller of Bristol is said to contain a specimen, from 

 the Lias, resembling the back of one of the Sepiadse — Geol. Eng. and Wales, 

 267. 



