336 Mme. J. Power on the Habits of various Marine Animals, 



a second of rather larger size, and so on, finishing in the centre 

 with a very large one ; after this it buries itself in the sand, and 

 remains quiet to digest its food, employing in this function two 

 or three days, and sometimes more. I weighed my Star-fishes 

 again after their repast : one of them had swallowed 370 grms. 

 of Natic(2j the second 256, and the third 240. 



They have the habit of coming out of the sand early in the 

 morning, hide themselves about nine o'clock, and reappear 

 about four in the afternoon, when the heat of the sun begins to 

 diminish. 



Observations upon Octopus vulgaris and Pinna nobilis. 



Into one of my cages I had put a living Pinna nobilis adhering 

 to a fragment of rock ; this cage also contained an Octopus vul- 

 garis and some living testaceous Mollusca which I had placed 

 there for the purpose of my investigations. 



One day, whilst observing my animals, I saw that the Poulpe 

 was holding a fragment of rock in one of its arms, and watching 

 the Pinna, which was opening its valves ; as soon as they were 

 perfectly open, the Poulpe, with incredible address and prompti- 

 tude, placed the stone between the valves, preventing the Pinna 

 from closing them again, when the Octopus set about devouring 

 the mollusk. 



The next day I was observing the Poulpe again, when I saw 

 him crush some TellincB, then search about amongst other 

 shells, and finally stretch himself close to a Triton nodiferum. 

 I had the perseverance to remain on the watch for four hours. 

 The Triton extruded half the body from its shell, no doubt with 

 the purpose of going to seek its food, when the Poulpe sprang 

 upon it, and surrounded it with his arms ; the mollusk retired 

 precipitately into its shell, and in closing this with its operculum 

 pinched the point of one of the arms of the Poulpe, which, by 

 struggling, at last left the tip of his arm in the shell of the 

 Triton. 



It would require whole pages to describe all the stratagems 

 employed by the Poulpe for the capture of his prey. I should 

 have to tell things which would appear incredible ; and his vora- 

 city is such, that notwithstanding the abundance of nourishment 

 with which I furnished him, I was compelled to remove him 

 from the cage, or he would have devoured all my Mollusca. 



I would beg Professor Costa and others who occupy them- 

 selves with this branch of science to repeat my experiments in 

 their aquaria ; they are of the greatest interest in the apprecia- 

 tion of the habits of this animal. So great is its voracity, that 

 it even attacks man, tears away his flesh, and eats it. In the 

 Port of Messina they occur in great numbers and of large size. 



