3 88 Shell Life 



A second species, 0. arcticiis, was captured by 

 trawling in deep w^ater off the south of Ireland in 

 1889 by Mr. G. C. Bourne. 



The genus Eledone, which differs from Octopus in 

 having only one row of suckers, is represented by 

 a single species. 



The Curled Octopus (U. cirrosa) is not so 

 repulsive as the common species in appearance, 

 the eyes not being so large and staring, and the 

 arms being more proportioned to the size of the 

 body. The body measures about 6 inches, and the 

 arms are only twice that length. The upper surface 

 is dotted with reddish brown, the under-sicle is bluish 

 white with larger and more regularly disposed spots. 

 The eyes are orange coloured, with silvery white 

 lids. It is as distinctly a northern species as 0. 

 vulgar is is a southern form ; but as well as being 

 fairly plentiful in deep water off the Scottish coasts, 

 Tenby, North Wales, south-west Ireland, and the 

 Butt of Lewis, it occasionally turns up at Plymouth 

 Sound, Falmouth, and Mount's Bay in the far south. 



These are our only eight-armed species. In all the 

 rest the eight arms are supplemented by two others 

 of a different shape, having a different origin, and 

 called tentacles. Cuttles of this character form the 

 sub-order Decapoda. Their sides are developed into 

 fins, the margin of the mantle " buttons " to the base 

 of the funnel, and there is an internal shell. The 

 tentacular arms are three or four times the length 

 of the ordinary arms, their ends with flat expan- 

 sions which alone bear the suckers. One member 

 of this sub-order, Spirula peronii, abounds on the 

 Atlantic coast, and its delicate shell, which is 



