292 SUPPLEMENT 
continually filled by the tentacular cirrhi of the edges of its 
mantle, would permit it? 
The habitation of an octopus is discernible by the debris of 
‘shells and of fish, the flesh of which it has eaten. It has also 
been asserted, absurdly enough, that when pushed by hunger 
it will gnaw its arms, which possess the singular property of 
shooting forth again. But Aristotle and Pliny, more justly, 
attribute the fact of octopi being often found which have some 
few appendages less than usual, to their having been eaten by 
the conger eels. Belon, in fact, informs us that he saw, near 
Epidaurus, some murenez whose stomach contained arms, or 
tentacula of the octopus. These fish, indeed, inhabit rocky 
places, as well as the octopi. Rondelet tells us that the 
octopi are very fond of the branches of the olive, and also of 
the fig-tree, and that these substances may be made use of as 
a bait to catch them. Whether this observation be peculiar 
to Rondelet or no, it appears to be very doubtful. 
The moderns do not appear to have completely observed 
the mode of sexual intercourse among the octopi; neverthe- 
less Rondelet assures us that it takes place, as among the 
sepiz, mouth to mouth, and interlacing with their arms. 
Aristotle says that the male is distinguished from the female 
by the form of one of the arms, where fishermen aver that the 
male organ is situated. But nothing appears to confirm this 
popular report, and indubitably there is no sort of excitatory 
organ in the anus of the octopus. He adds, that their inter- 
course takes place like that of the other mollusca, by which 
we essentially understand the sepia and calamary; while 
Pliny affirms that they unite by means of their pointed and 
forked tail, an organ with which undoubtedly no species of 
octopus is provided. -He probably means the foot, which is 
more pointed in these than in others of the class, whitish, and 
cleft at its extremity. This, according to Aristotle, is placed 
upon the spine, a part which has no more pretensions to ex- 
