SEPIA. 265 



shops and placed between the bars of our bird-cages. Al- 

 though the animal is common, and the bone often thrown 

 upon our shores, it is not very often seen alive. 



"When it can be seen however, it is well worth looking at. 

 The body is wide and flat, with narrow fins bordering its 

 whole length ; it is marked with beautiful, zebra-like cross 

 stripes of white on a bright ground, arranged in a beautiful 

 pattern ; the tentacular arms are of great length, measuring 

 a foot and a half, while the whole length of the animal 

 without them does not exceed nine inches. The internal 

 bone is too well known to need description : it is oval, thick, 

 and white, with a dorsal beak at one end ; the centre is sul- 

 cated by the edges of successive layers. Prom its peculiar 

 substance it has been made useful as pounce, and it is con- 

 sidered good for cage-birds to peck at. 



Eestlessly active and voracious are all the Cuttle-fish, 

 great and small, beautiful or hideous, naked or covered; 

 whether the Nautilus with a true shell, or the Argonaut 

 with a shelly ovarium ; the Sepia with an internal bone, or 

 the Octopus without one. Their means of aggressive warfare 

 are truly formidable ; and the black fluid, which they have 

 the power of discharging, serves as an admirable defence, by 

 hiding them from pursuit in a watery cloud. 



