302 SUPPLEMENT 
other, in front of the head ; nor does it seem that the branchial 
appendages are developed. It appears that they do not 
separate or move the first but to retain their prey, and the 
second only when they await it at a distance, or employ them 
to attach themselves to marine bodies in tempests and violent 
currents. ‘They more especially inhabit the high sea, and die 
in a few minutes after they have been taken out of the water, 
in a sort of convulsion. They cannot even be preserved alive 
in a vessel filled with sea-water, except when it is very large, 
and the water very frequently renewed. 
They pursue and destroy their prey by main force; it con- 
sists principally of crustacea and fish. These they seize with 
their tentacula, retain by the assistance of their suckers, which 
are often armed with hooks, and break and triturate to a cer- 
tain point with their jaws. 
We are entirely ignorant of the duration of life in these ani- 
mals, and whether their growth be rapid or no; nor have we 
much more certain notions respecting the mode of intercourse 
between the sexes. The two individuals differ in size, the 
female being a little smaller than the male, accordingly the 
dorsal cartilage is always more narrow in one than in the 
other. 
We do not know whether any actual coupling takes 
place. Belon asserts the affirmative, which does not how- 
ever seem to be probable. It is more likely that the mode 
of generation is the same as in fishes. The singular me- 
chanism of the tubes containing the seminal fluid is per- 
haps destined for the purpose of acting upon the eggs. The 
foetus enclosed in the egg undergoes its development pre- 
cisely like that of the sepia; at first it is imperceptible in the 
fluid by which the egg is filled, afterwards a sort of vitelline 
mass may be observed, then the young animal, which makes 
its appearance in one point, grows by little and little, appear- 
ing to embrace this mass with its long tentacula. These, in 
fete 
