30 



THE OCTOPUS. 



and Ion the tragedian, who wrote in his " Phoenix " : — 



" I hate the colour-changing polypus 

 Clinging with bloodless feelers to the rocks." 



It was also the subject of a maxim equivalent to our " When 

 you're at Rome, do as Rome does." A proverb cited by Clearchus 

 runs thus : — 



" My son, my excellent Amphilocus, 

 Copy the shrewd device o' the polypus 

 And make yourself as like as possible 

 To those whose land you chance to visit. " 



M. Hugo poetically alludes to the phosphorescent glow said to 

 be emitted by the octopus in the dark : — 



"By night, and especially in the rutting season, it is phosphorescent. 

 Awaiting its spouse, it beautifies, kindles, illuminates itself; and, from the 

 height of some rock, it may be perceived in the profound darkness beneath, 

 blossoming in wan irradiation — a spectre sun." 



I have never been fortunate enough to witness the exhibition 

 of this phosphorescence by the living octopus, although in .dead 

 specimens, as is the case with other marine animals, it becomes 

 apparent as soon as decomposition has commenced; but D'Or- 

 bigny mentions it, and Mr. Darwin says, " I observed that one 

 which I kept in the cabin was slightly phosphorescent in the 

 dark."* No doubt concerning this can, therefore, exist; for a 

 more competent observer, or more accurate recorder of facts 

 than Mr. Darwin, never put pen to paper. 



In his description of the manner in which the devil-fish absorbs 

 its victim, the author of " The Toilers of the Sea " releases his 

 ardent imagination from the few restraining ties by which it was 

 bound to reality. He writes : — 



"You enter into the beast, the hydra incorporates itself with the man : the 

 man is amalgamated with the hydra. You become one. The tiger can only 

 devour you ; the devil-fish inhales you. He draws you to him, into him j and, 



* Voyage of the Beagle ; p. 8. 



