SEXUAL ACTIVITIES OF THE SQUID 341 
sequence of her activities because she had accidentally lost a string 
of eggs. 
The methods of copulation of cephalopods have attracted the 
attention of observers from very early times but the act of copu- 
lation has not been actually seen for many species and where ob- 
servations have been made’ they have for the most part been in- 
complete. Aristotle makes several statements regarding the 
breeding habits of cephalopods. It is quite possible that he saw 
something of the act of copulation for some species, but his state- 
ments are hard to follow and are evidently inaccurate. The most 
important statements are here quoted to show the curious medley 
of facts and fiction. In chapter 5, book 5, he says: 
1. All the malacia, as the polypus, sepia and teuthis, approach each other 
in the same manner, for they are united mouth to mouth; the tentacula of 
one sex being adapted to those of the other; for when the polypus has fixed 
the part called the head upon the ground, it extends its tentacula which 
the other adapts to the expansion of its tentacula, and they make their 
acetabula answer together. And some persons say that the male has an 
organ like a penis in that one of its tentacula which contains the two 
largest acetabula. -This organ is sinewy, as far as the middle of the tenta- 
culum, and they say it is all inserted into the nostril of the female. 
2. The sepia and loligo swim about coiled together in this way, and 
with their mouths and tentacula united, they swim in contrary directions to 
each other. They adapt the organ called the nostril of the male to the 
similar organ in the female; and the one swims forwards, and the other 
backwards. The ova of the female are produced in the part called the 
physeter, by means of which some persons say that they copulate. 
Again in chapter 10, book 5, he says: ; 
1. The malacia breed in the spring, and first of all the marine sepia, 
though this one breeds at all seasons. It produces its ova in fifteen days. 
When the ova are extruded, the male follows, and ejects his ink upon them 
when they become hard. They go about in pairs. The male is more 
variegated than the female, and blacker on the back. The sexes of the 
polypus unite in the winter, the young are produced in the spring, when 
these creatures conceal themselves for two months. It produces an 
ovum like long hair, similar to the fruit of the white poplar. The fecund- 
