REVIEWS. 195 



free, display the spots, which, when looked at attentively, are seen to play about in 

 the most singular manner, having the appearance of a coloured fluid, injected, with 

 constantly varying force, into cavities in the substance of the skin, of ever-changing 

 dimensions. Now the spots become rings, like the markings of a panther's skin ; 

 and as the little creature moves slightly, either side, beneath the fin is seen to 

 glow with metallic lustre, like that of gold leaf seen through horn. Again the 

 rings unite and coalesce, and form a beautiful netted pattern of brown, which colour 

 increasing, leaves the interspaces a series of white spots on the rich, dark ground. 

 These and other phases are every instant interchanging, and passing suddenly and 

 momentarily into each other with the utmost irregularity. But here is a change ! 

 One is hovering in quiescence— his colour pale, almost white ; one of his fellows 

 shoots along just over him ; with the quickness of thought the alarmed creature 

 turns from white to a uniform deep brown ; the rich, full colour suffusing the skin 

 in a second, like a blush on a young maiden's face. The hue is very beautiful ; it 

 is the fine, deep, sienna-tint of tortoise shell. 



" Hitherto we have seen the Sepiola only in the pail of water, into which it was 

 turned out of the net. After a little, while it drops upon the bottom, and crouch- 

 ing up, it remains motionless. If you rouse it, it will again swim for a few mo- 

 ments, but, presently, seeks some corner, into which it thrusts its rear, and huddles 

 up as before. This is all that you will see of its habits under such circumstances ; 

 for, in all probability, the morning will reveal your little protege a lump of white 

 jelly, dead and stiff, with uncoiled arms, on the naked floor of his prison. But intro- 

 duce him, while in health, into an Aquarium, where living sea plants are perpetually 

 revivifying the water, and where the bottom, varied with sand, gravel, and pieces of 

 rock, imitates the natural floor of the sea, and you will soon see other particulars 

 in the economy of our little friend, which will, I doubt not, charm you as much as 

 they have pleased me. 



"The Sepiola is a burrower; and very cleverly and ingeniously does it perform a 

 task which we might at first suppose a somewhat awkward one— the insertion of 

 its round, corpulent body into the sand or gravel. Watch it as it approaches the 

 bottom, after a season of hovering play, such as I have described — it drops down to 

 within an inch of the sand, then hangs suspended, as if surveying the ground for a 

 suitable bed ; presently it selects a spot ; the first indication of its choice being that 

 a hollow about the size of a silver fourpence, is forcibly blown out of the sand im- 

 mediately beneath the group of pendant arms. Into the cavity so made, the little 

 animal drops. At that instant the sand is blown out on all sides from beneath the body 

 backward, and the abdomen is thrust downward before the cloud of sand which has 

 been blown up settles, but which presently falls around and upon the body. Another 

 forcible puff in front, one on each side, another behind, follow in quick succession — 

 the fine sand displaced at each blast settling around the animal as it thrusts itself 

 into the hollow thus more and more deepened. I was not at first quite sure by 

 what agency these blowings — so admirably effective and suited to the purpose, were 

 performed. The jet in front I readily attributed to the action of the fleshy funnel pro- 

 jecting from beneath the mantle on the breast ; but I did not see how this could blow a 

 stream directly backwards. I, therefore, put one of my pets into a vessel with glass 

 sides, and furnished with the requisite sand and water. I, at once, saw that the 

 funnel was, indeed, the organ employed, and the only one in every case ; and I per- 

 ceived its beautiful adaptation for the work it had to do, in its extreme flexibility. 

 This organ is very protrusile, and, being perfectly flexible, its orifice can be, and is, 

 at will, pointed in any direction, so as to blow the jet of water forward, backward, 

 or at either side at pleasure. 



It frequently occurs, of course, that small stones are mingled with the sand, or the 

 animal may find it convenient to burrow in the loose gravel ; in either case, the 

 arms come to the aid of the funnel — and the sucking disks, with which they are fur- 

 nished, being made to adhere to the stones which are dragged out and thrown aside. 

 You may suppose this to be a clumsy expedient, but you would think differently if 

 you saw it ; the rapidity with which the arms are thrust under the body and drawn 

 out, bearing pieces of stone of comparatively large size, and the graceful ease with 

 which they are then thrown forward, discharging and dropping the burden, impress 

 the mind with admiration of the beautiful fitness of the organization for the require- 

 ment. 



