390 



Shell Life 



there is little doubt that we owe the abundance of 

 well-cleaned shells cast up on our rocks and beaches 

 to the steady efforts of the conger and other large 

 fishes to keep down the numbers of Cuttles. Its 

 form is well represented in the preceding figure. Its 

 broad brown back is striped with white, zebra fashion, 

 and dotted with purple and white. The 

 margins form thin narrow fins. The 

 arms are short, but the tentacles are 

 very long, the expansions at the tip 

 covered with unequal suckers. When 

 not in use the two tentacles are entirely 

 withdrawn into pockets in the head. 

 The suckers, as in all the Decapods, are 

 stalked, and have horny rings. Those 

 on the arms are in four rows, and are 

 pretty regular in size. The head is 

 much narrower than the body, and the 

 prominent eyes are black. Its length 

 is about a foot, without the tentacles. 

 The shell or " bone " is about three- 

 quarters of the animal's length, of a 

 broad lance-shape, with a border of 

 cartilage, and almost filled with thin 

 overlapping plates of a soft porous shell- 

 matter, which is exceedingly buoyant, 

 and which may be powdered by the 

 finger - nail. Among the maritime population in 

 Cornwall the name is Cuddle, and this no doubt is 

 the correct form of a word having a common origin 

 with our modern verb cuddle, and referring to the 

 embracing action of the arms. 



>S^. Tib'pellaria is a much smaller species (3 inches 



