SEPIA. 11 



tify it as that lately named CranclCs Loligo. Its history, however, should 

 be prosecuted farther. 



The asj^ect'of the spawn of the Cuttle Fish is extremely varied ; nor, 

 without possession of the parent from which it is obtained, can we pro- 

 nounce definitely on the species of several clusters procured on July 7, 

 and 11. One of the latter consisted of at least thirty grapes, few, if any, 

 extending an inch. A cluster of that of the former consisted of seven 

 somewhat longer. These resembled an icicle, clearly exposing the con- 

 tents as ova with the foetus, in various stages. 



One grape, the most transparent, consisted of about forty minute 

 separate and distinct spherical ova, each in the thinnest capsular integu- 

 ment. Others exhibited nine, ten, twelve, twenty, thirty-three capsules 

 respectively, with the fcetus in various stages of progress ; but they were not 

 in any definite arrangement ; so plastic, nevertheless, that no space is lost 

 among them. The contents of the grape with forty embryos were least 

 advanced. In four of the others, the capsules, swollen to two or three 

 lines in diameter, exposed the embryos stretched almost straight. These 

 fell readily through the interior of their capsules, without any organic 

 action, merely on shifting the position of the grapes. The same disten- 

 sion and internal rarefaction of the capsule succeeded here as before, and 

 even to a greater degree, as evinced by the readier fall of the foetus. It 

 may be asked, whether this intumescence does not result from the extri- 

 cation of some gaseous matter preparatory for the respiration of the 

 young ? 



Fourteen or sixteen young animals having issued from the spawn, 

 proved the protrusion from the sac first, — but that several nascent ani- 

 mals, unable to free themselves, perish in the birth. 



The subsistence and increment of those creatures, visibly coming to 

 maturity in the egg, is derived from the vitellus or yolk, as we denomi- 

 nate it, which is included within its own peculiar integument. 



Each of the young Cuttle Fish is produced with a substance resem- 

 bling a pearl in its mouth, at least so situate amidst the tentacula that 

 they cannot close together. This substance may be recognised as the 

 foetus approaches to maturity in the egg, when it affects very much the 



