CUTTLES AND SQUIDS. 75 



in a tank, after having been for about ten days deprived of 

 maternal care. 



The young Sepia when born is much larger than a baby oc- 

 topus or squid. It is of about the size of a rather small horse- 

 bean. When about half developed, the little animal has the head 

 and eyes disproportionately large, but gradually acquires a greater 

 resemblance to its parent. If the black integument be removed, 

 as one would skin a grape, it may be seen moving in the fluid 

 which fills the tgg. Cut down to the little Hving grape-stone 

 under water, and away it will swim, with all its wits about it, and 

 in possession of all its faculties, with as much facility and self- 

 possession as if it had considerable knowledge of the world. It 

 sees and avoids every obstacle, and if you take it out of the water, 

 in your hand, the precocious little creature, not a minute old, and 

 not sufficiently matured to leave the egg naturally, will spurt its 

 ink all over your fingers. You may tame an old cuttle-fish, and 

 it will learn to know that you are a friend, and intend to do it no 

 harm ; but the youngsters are as shy as human babies, and regard 

 every one but their mother as an enemy. 



The preference for the light, which I described as exhibited by 

 the young octopus, appears to be common also to the young squid 

 and cuttle-fish. The latter generally seek the surface of the water; 

 sometimes swimming gently by means of the locomotive tube 

 and the undulating movement of the marginal fins, and at 

 others poising their bodies motionless, as if basking The 

 habit in these two families is not so surprising as it is in the 

 young octopus, because the adult Sepia and Loligo are not 

 cave-dwellers, but frequent the open sea, and often approach 

 the surface. 



The spawn of the squid {Loligo vulgaris) consists of dozens of 

 semi-transparent, gelatinous, slender, cylindrical sheaths, about 

 four or five inches long, each containing many ova embedded in 

 it, and all springing from one common centre, and resembling a 

 mop Avithout a handle. Johann Bodasch, Professor of Natural 



