CHAPTER IX. 



THE CEPHALOPODS SINGULAR FACTS IN REFERENCE TO THEIR 



STRUCTURE AND HABITS THE NAUTILUS. 



The last class of the mollusca, namely, the cephalo- 

 poda, now invites our notice. This term, which means 

 head-footed, alludes to the arrangement of the complex 

 and wonderful organs of locomotion around the head of 

 the animals, to which they are, as it were, so many 

 flexible, but powerful appendages, by means of which 

 they not only creep along at the bottom of the sea, 

 but grasp their prey and force it to the mouth. 



It is in these animals, the highest in the scale of 

 the mollusca, that the rudiments of an internal ske- 

 leton are to be found. This is cartilaginous, but still 

 it cannot be mistaken : one portion encloses and pro- 

 tects a large ganglion, which may, indeed, be termed 

 a brain, and surrounds with a ring the oesophagus 

 itself; it gives a firm attachment to the muscles of 

 the tentacula, or arms, and it encloses an auditory ap- 



