THE NAKED CEPHALOPODS. 43 



of more than twelve feet in circumference. The same 

 naturalist frequently observed the 8epiai and Octopi in full 

 predatory acti\dty ; and he had great trouble and difficulty 

 to secure them^ so great was their restless vivacity, and so 

 vigorous their efforts to escape. They darted from side to 

 side in their watery haunts, or fixed themselves so tenaciously 

 to the roots and stones by means of their sucker -like aceta- 

 bular that it required great strength to detach them. When 

 captured and thrown upon the sand, they still progressed 

 rapidly in a sidelong, shuffling manner, extending their long 

 arms, ejecting their ink-like fluid in sudden violent jets, and 

 staring about in a very grotesque and hideous manner, with 

 their huge sliining eyes, which at night are luminous like 

 those of a cat. 



Such are the terrific relatives of the chambered Nautilus : 

 creatures which have been mentioned in the earliest records 

 of natural history, though little was known with regard to 

 their immediate relation with the testaceous mollusks, until 

 the appearance of a Kving Nautilus, during the last century, 

 established this interesting fact. 



Two of the Cephalopods construct shells, and in only one 

 such instance does the shell appear designed for the dwell- 

 ing of its inhabitant ; they are widely distributed tliroughout 



