58 CEPHALOPODA. 
CLASS I. CEPHALOPODA. 
(Head-footed Mollusks.) 
Ir we were to takea Poulpe or a Cuttle-fish from 
some hole or tide-pool in the rocks, and look upon 
its many flexible arms studded with sucking disks, 
its sack-like body, its green staring eyes, and its 
bird-like beak, we should be ready to say that such 
an animal presents but a shght analogy with the 
sluggish and almost shapeless creatures familiar to 
us under the name of shell-fish. And, in truth, the 
former do possess a higher rank in the scale of 
animal life, having their senses developed into 
greater perfection, and forming, indeed, the link by 
which the latter take hold of the races which, from 
their elaborate organization, are placed at the summit 
of the scale—the VERTEBRATA. 
We shall better understand the connexion between 
the present Class and other Mollusca, by considering, 
with Cuvier, that “the mantle unites beneath the 
body, and thus forms a muscular sac which enve- 
lopes all the viscera. This body, or trunk, is fleshy 
and soft, varying in form, being either spherical, 
elliptical, or cylindrical, and the sides of the mantle 
are in many of the species extended into fleshy fins. 
The head protrudes from the muscular sac, and is 
distinct from the body: it is gifted with all the 
usual senses, and the eyes, in particular, which are 
either pedunculated or sessile, are large and well 
developed. The mouth is anterior and terminal, 
