28 SEPIOLIDA. 
Mr. Alder says of S. Sepiola, the common European species : 
“ This is an odd fish, crouching generally at the bottom like a 
toad, with its oreat gogele-eyes half closed, and sometimes 
crawling along by means of its suckers, puffing the water 
through the funnel all the time. When it does take to swimming, 
it darts very quickly through the water, and is difficult to catch. 
When taken out of the water and placed on the hand, it had 
recourse to an odd mode of progression, turning two or three 
somersets in tumbler-fashion, first laying hold with its arms, 
turning over and laying hold again until it managed to get back 
into the water.” It is said by Mr. Gosse, to burrow in the sand 
by blowing through its funnel, and using its arms, with their 
suckers, to remove small stones and gravel, They spawn 
towards the end of May or beginning of June. The eggs are 
arranged in the centre of a bluish gelatinous mass, as if around 
an axis, and fifteen to thirty of these masses, each containing 
from forty to one hundred and thirty eggs, are united, each by 
a basal stalk, to form a group attached upon some submarine 
body. The fry is hatched in twenty-two to twenty-five days. 
They visit the Algerine coast in numerous troops during the 
month of May, for the purpose of spawning. In the Mediter- 
ranean it is found at depths of 60 to 200 métres, where it lives 
in company with the Eledones. Largely consumed as food in 
Italy ; it is much esteemed for the delicacy of its flesh. 
S. Penares, Gray, the type of Gray’s genus /idenas, does 
not appear to possess any distinctive characters, except that 
the suckers are long-peduncled, and the peduncles are constricted 
on the upper part. The only specimen is in spirits, and is ina 
mutilated state. 
Rossra, Owen, 1854. 
Dedicated to Capt. John Ross, the Arctic voyager. 
Syn.—Heteroteuthis, Gray, 1849. 
Distr.—10 sp. Arctic Seas, Great Britain, Massachusetts 
Bay, Mediterranean. A. Owenii, Ball (xxv, 27), 
Generally like Sepiola, but the mantle is supported cervically 
by a ridge; arms with two or four rows of sessile suckers. 
First left arm and middle of first right arm hectocotylized. 
Shell lancet-form, small. 
Owen thinks that the eyelids discovered in Rossia palpebrosa, 
and from which it derives its name, are a peculiar organization 
designed as a defense for the eyes against the spicular ice 
cr ystals, which, in the summer season, crowd the northern waters 
The eggs of Rossia are laid singly, one alongside of another, 
and fixed. solely by their viscous surface. 

SEPIADARIUM, Steenstrup, 1881. 
Distr.—S. Kochii, Steenstrup (xxv, 29’. Japan. 
