THE ONYCHOTEUTHIS. 157 



disc from the piston, so as to act like a grappling 

 iron. With such an apparatus, two additional arms of 

 the Onychoteuthis, which far exceed the other eight 

 arms in length, are provided at their extremity, while 

 the short tentacula have only the ordinary suckers. 

 It is, however, very remarkable, that below these 

 hooked suckers are several simple ones, set closely 

 together. These are not used as organs of prehension, 

 but for locking the two arms together when a victim is 

 secured, in order that they may both act in dragging 

 it within the reach of the shorter arms. Perhaps these 

 long arms are also of use in enabling the animal to at- 

 tach itself, as if by an anchor, to rocks, or heavy stones \ 

 the calamary, which, besides the eight ordinary arms, 

 has also two long ones, uses the latter for this purpose. 



The sketch on page 158 is a figure of the onycho- 

 teuthis, from two words, one meaning a claw, or nail, the 

 other a cuttle-fish, a, «, are the longer arms ; h^ the 

 group of suckers by which they are themselves locked 

 together ; c, c, are the dilated extremities furnished with 

 hooked discs ; </, d^ are the short arms ; e, the head ; f^ 

 the mantle-covered body, terminating in a broad, fin-like 

 expansion, which does not exist in the common polypus, 

 {Octoims vulgaris^) but occurs in the calamary {LoUgo) 

 at the extremity of the mantle ; while in the common 



