THE CEPHALOPODS. 41 



Class I. CEPHALOPODA. 



Strange features range the deep; methinks stout hearts 

 Might quail before them ; huge mis-shapen fonns, 

 Such as the earth owns not, nor men have fed 

 In quiet pastm'es ; yet allied to these, 

 •Are such as poets love, and oft have sung. 

 By classic streams. 



The Ceplialopods^ or Head-walking mollusks, derive their 

 name from a peculiar manner of crawling upon their arms 

 and tentacles^ with the head downward. They present an 

 interesting link between the vertebrate and invertebrate 

 divisions of the animal kingdom : between fishes on one 

 side, and operculated Gastropods on the other. Like the 

 former, they possess an internal cartilaginous skeleton, and 

 are able to speed swiftly through the waters by the aid of a 

 caudal and pair of side-fins ; like the latter, three of them 

 secrete a testaceous mucus, and construct a calcareous 

 apparatus, consisting of an involuted shell. Those unpro- 

 vided with any shell are extremely numerous, and of the 

 most hideous aspect. 



The creature herself resembles an oblong bag crowned 

 with arms and tentacles, often of immense length, and 

 provided with numerous suckers, that act as cupping-glasses 

 when the creature has secured her prey. The head, which 



