262 POPULAR BRITISH CONCHOLOGY. 



Family TEUTHIDJE. 



These have ten arms round their head, two of them longer 

 than the other, with pediculated suckers. They have mov- 

 able eyes, an internal bone or pen, and fin-like flaps on 

 their bodies. 



Sepiola Atlantica and Rondeletii. — These beautiful, ac- 

 tive little animals are thus described : — " The Sejjiola, the 

 minutest of the naked Cephalopoda, possess a structure as 

 complex and elaborate as that of the largest Octopus or 

 Loligo. By the length of its cephalic arms, and their 

 numerous large pedunculated suckers, it compensates for 

 the want of developed suckers on its long tentacula. By 

 the great development of its i;?l'-gland, and the magnitude 

 of its organs of vision, it compensates for the want of more 

 solid means of protection. The rounded form of its body 

 required the dorsal lamina to be shortened, which would 

 have impeded the motions of the mantle, had it extended, 

 as in the Loligo, to its extremity. The great muscular 

 strength of its dorsal fins, and the mobility of their scapulae, 

 give rapid and varied motion to this delicate and defenceless 

 animal ; and they constitute the most perfectly developed 

 arms of this class." 



