76 MANUAL OF THE MOLLUSCA. 



CONOTEUTHIS, D'Orb. 

 Type, C. Dupinianus, D'Orb. PI, II., fig. 9. Neocomian, France. 

 Fhragmocone slightly cui'ved. Pen elongated, veiy sleuder. 

 This shell, which is like the pen of an ommastrephe, with a chambered 

 eone, connects the ordinary calamaries with the belemnites. 



FAMILY V. Sepiad^. 

 Shell (cuttle-bone or seplostaire) calcarious ; consisting of a broad lami- 

 nated plate, terminating behind in a hollow, imperfectly chambered apex 

 {mucro). Atiimal with elongated tentacles, expanded at their ends. 



Sepia (Pliny), Liimseiis. 



Type, S. officinaHs, L. PL I., fig. 5. 



Syn., helosepia, Yoltz. (B. sepioidea, pi. II., fig. 3, mucro only.) 



Body oblong, Avith lateral fins as long as itself. Arms with 4 rows of 

 suckers. Mantle supported by tubercles fitting into sockets on the neck and 

 fimnel. Length 3 to 28 inches. 



Shell as \\ide and long as the body; very thick in front, concave internally 

 behind ; terminating in a prominent vmcro. The thickened part is composed 

 of nimierous plates, separated by vertical fibres, which render it very light and 

 porous. T. OrbigTiyana, pi. II., fig. 2. 



The cuttle-bone was formerly employed as an antacid by apothecaries ; it 

 is now only used as " pounce," or in casting counterfeits. The bone of a 

 Chinese species attains the length of 1| feet. [Adams.) 



The cuttle-fishes live near shore, and the mucro of their shell seems in- 

 tended to protect them in the fi'equeut collisions they are exposed to in swim- 

 ming- backwards. {D'Orb.) 



Distr., 30 sp. World-wide. 



Fossil, 5 sp. Oxf. clay, Solenhofen. Several species have been founded 

 on mucrones fi-om the Eocene of London and Paris. PI. II., fig. 3. 



Sfirulieostra, D'Orb. 



Type, S. BeUardii (D'Orb.) PI. II., fig. 4. Miocene, Tmin. 



Shell, mucro only known ; chambered internally ; chambers connected 

 by a ventral siphuncle ; external spathose layer produced beyond the phrag- 

 inocone into a long pointed beak. 



Beloptera (BlainviUe) Deshayes. 

 Etym., helos, a dart, ?ivA pteron, a wing. 

 Type, B. belemnitoides, Bl. PI. II., fig. 7- 



been obtained for the British Museum ; the tentacles are not longer than the ordinary- 

 arms, owing, perhaps, to their partial retraction ; this specimen will be figured in Dr . 

 Mantell's '• Petrifactions and their Teachings." d, is a single hook, natural size; the 

 specimens belonging to Mr. Cunnington and the late Mr. C. Pearce, show the large 

 acetabular bases of the hooks. 



