JAWS OF CEPHALOPOD. 139 



portions of the ordinary shell-less cephalopods, and we 

 may now proceed to a few interesting details. 



It has been already said, that the mouth of the cepha- 

 lopods is placed in the centre of the space enclosed by 

 the arms. It consists, externally, of a thick circular lip, 

 around an orifice. Beneath this lip, and partially ap- 

 pearing through the orifice, is a beak like that of a 

 parrot, excepting that the short mandible is the upper- 

 most, the long hooked mandible the lowermost, as in 



Jaws of Cephalopod. 



the annexed figures, of which i exhibits them open, i i 

 closed ; and in both instances cleared from the lips, and 

 the powerful muscles in which they are imbedded. «, c, 

 is the upper mandible ; b, b, is the lower, and most 

 hook-like. When closed, the point of the lower man- 

 dible overlaps that of the upper. 



These mandibles do not cover bone, as do those of 



