Memoires de la Societe Linneenne du Calvados. 570 



memoirs of any scientific Society now in existence. It is reason- 

 able to expect that these will appear in subsequent publications, 

 and will consequently fall under our notice at some future period ; 

 at present it is necessary to confine ourselves to such of those 

 included in the present volume as fall within our immediate pro- 

 vince. 



The first of these consists of observations by M. F. de la Fres- 

 naye on the mobility of the spots observed on the skins of the 

 Loligo subulata and the L. Sepiola. These had already been 

 cursorily noticed by Cuvier in his description of the Octopus 

 vulgaris, Lam. but the fact as recorded by him is unaccompanied 

 with the detail which characterizes the present memoir. The colour 

 of the living specimens under examination varied considerably, 

 passing alternately from a lively rose-colour to a yellowish white. 

 On a more close observation, the rosy hue was discovered to re- 

 sult from numerous reddish spots with which the animal was 

 covered, particularly about the upper part of the mantle, and 

 which were of very different sizes, varying from a line in diameter 

 to a mere point. The disappearance of these spots occasioned a 

 loss of colour, which was however constantly reproduced in the 

 same situation, the centre of each being formed by a very minute 

 point, which was nearly black when the surrounding colour va- 

 nished, and the spreading of which under the skin produced again 

 the rosy efflorescence. If the fluid which was thus expanded 

 could have been proved to be red blood, the fact would have been 

 peculiarly important to the Zoologist, as furnishing additional 

 evidence of the Sepiae' forming the osculant group between the 

 Vertebrata and Invertebrata, or in other words, between the ani- 

 mals with red, and those with white, blood. This fact it was 

 however impossible to determine, the heart and branchiae being 

 found on dissection to be entirely white ; but it is one the investi- 

 gation of which we would strongly recommend to the attention of 

 the observing naturalist. The extreme tenuity of skin in animals 

 of this family may facilitate the partial oxygenation of the blood, 

 and the alternate colouration and discolouration of the spots may 

 thus possibly be owing to a healthy action, and not to the emotion 

 of fear to which they are attributed by M. de la Fresnaye. 



