314 Dr Grant wi the Structure and Characters of 



quill, extending down the sides of the lower half of the mantle. 

 These bodies are thickest where they commence at the bottom of the 

 branchiae, and become quite filiform as they descend in a curved 

 direction to near the base of the mantle. They are not connected 

 with the muscular fibres of the mantle, as might be expected, 

 but are placed in distinct cavities. On clipping open the cap- 

 sules which contained them, they fell out in loose transparent frag- 

 ments of an amber-colour. The muscular system presents nothing 

 peculiar. The fleshy membranes within the sac immediately en- 

 veloping the viscera, are comparatively strong. Cuvier states that 

 the fringed lip in the O. vulgaris is only a fold of the skin {Mem. 

 p. 25.) On laying open the lip in the veniricosus, a strong sphincter 

 muscle is seen surrounding its upper margin, and very delicate mus- 

 cular bands descend from the sphincter to the sides of the bills. 

 Strong muscular bands are seen passing from arm to arm across the 

 connecting webs ; and within these a thin layer of muscular fibres 

 extends longitudinally to the free margin of the webs. The whole 

 convex outer margin of the cartilaginous cups of the suckers is co- 

 vered with the insertions of oblique muscular bands for the varied 

 motions of these organs ; and a distinct set arises from the margin 

 of the cups, radiating outward to assist the external bands in moving 

 the broad disk of the suckers. The muscular structure of the arms, 

 the mantle, the funnel, the bands connecting these, and the fleshy 

 peritoneal coverings, is the same as described by Cuvier in the O. 

 vulgaris. On laying open these peritoneal coverings, we observe 

 the great length of the glandular-like bodies attached to the supe- 

 rior and inferior trunks of the veins leading to the lateral hearts. 

 When the parts are floating loosely in water, these singular glands 

 extend nearly half an inch from the sides of the veins, and appear 

 as empty white pear-shaped sacs, attached by their tapering ends 

 to the coats of the veins. In place of these long pear-shaped bodies, 

 we find in the Loligo sagittata only a thick soft sponginess of the 

 coats of the veins, which, however, is of the same glandular na- 

 ture, and secretes a thick white -fluid, whose use is entirely unknown. 

 The fluid which escapes by pressing these glands is al«vays more 

 thick and turbid than the blood which we find circulating in the 

 bloodvessels. On cutting open a living L. sagittata, these glandular 

 parts of the veins exhibit a remarkable peristaltic motion, which 

 continues as long as any other motions of the body. The two bran- 

 chial hearts have the same remarkable blackish-grey colour as in the 

 O. vulgaris, which is probably peculiar to this genus. Those of 

 Uie L. sagittata have always a pale-red colour. In the ve?itricosus, 

 these organs are pretty large, destitute of the white appendices we 

 find in the L. sagittata, dark-coloured through their whole texture, 

 and deeply marked internally with columnae carnea3, which form in- 

 numerable small pits in the parietes. The branchiae, about 2i in- 

 ches long, and pretty broad, are immediately connected with a thick 

 fleshy band, which hangs by a thin fibrous membrane to the sides 

 of the mantle ; and along the thick margin of this fleshy band the 

 branchial artery is firmly connected, from the lateral heart to the 

 upper end of the gill on each side. They are ramified in the 

 same manner as in the vulgaris, and they suffered an injection of 



