LECTURES ON MOLLUSCA. 157 



fishes. His nose is a long snout, or rather a pipe, which he wears under 

 and between his eyes, as it were on his breast. He carries his mouth at 

 the very top of his head, and could soon make one feel the bite of his 

 powerful horny jaws, which are hooked, and work up and down like an 

 eagle's. Although he has no legs, he is better off for arms than a 

 monkey, having always eight or ten, sometimes a much larger number. 

 These he elegantly arranges in a circle round his mouth; forming a 

 crown — more dangerous than the fabled hair of serpents — round his 

 head. His body appears only of secondary importance, and is inclosed 

 in an oval or conical mantle, ending often in a tail like a fish, or adorned 

 with fins, one on each side. Imagine this creature walking on his head, 

 with his tail upwards, staring at you with both his eyes. As you 

 watch him, he rapidly changes color, like a chameleon, by means of 

 thousands of contractile pigment-cells all over his skin. He may 

 change from yellow to red or brown, sometimes casting over himself a 

 bluish tinge; the colored spots and waves appearing and disappearing 

 with the greatest velocity. Though not a literary character, he always 

 carries an ink-bottle, and generally a pen, along with him ; and, should 

 you chance to disturb him, he will instantly discharge a copious black 

 stream before you, under cover of which he will dart off before you 

 have time to follow his retreat. 



The Cuttles have very acute senses. They have an approach to a 

 brain, inclosed in a cartilaginous skull. They can hear sounds, and 

 evidently enjoy the taste of their food. They have a large, fleshy 

 tongue, armed with recurved prickles, like that of the lion. They 

 either crawl on their head, tail upwards, or swim, tail foremost, by 

 striking their arms; or squirt themselves backwards by forcing water 

 forward, through their breathing funnels. 



They are ferocious creatures, the tyrants of the lower orders, and do 

 not scruple to attack and devour even fishes. The larger kinds are 

 deservedly dreaded by man. Their weapons consist in their powerful 

 arms, which are abundantly furnished with rows of cup-like suckers, 

 each of which fastens on to its prey or its foe like a limpet to the rock. 

 Often these are accompanied with sharp curved teeth, strong enough 

 to be preserved even in the fossil species. "It must be a fearful 

 thing," says Dr. Johnston, "for any living creature to come within 

 their compass, or within their leap, for, captured by a sudden spring 

 of several feet, made with the rapidity of lightning, entangled in the 

 slimy, serpentine grasp of eight or ten arms, and held by the pressure 

 of some hundreds of exhausted cups, escape is hopeless." With such 

 strength do they clutch the object of their desire that it is often easier 

 to tear off the limb than induce them to relax their hold. 



They are the largest of all animals that are not supported by a 

 jointed skeleton. One was seen in the equatorial Atlantic, which 

 must have weighed two hundred weight. Another was seen in the 

 Pacific, which must have been six feet long. As it is almost impossible 

 to capture these great creatures alive, we remain in great ignorance 

 about them. Montfort, one of the early conchologists, represented a 

 " kraken octopod" in the act of scuttling a three-master; but he told 

 his friend that, if this were "swallowed," he would in his next 



