34 OBSERVATIONS ON THE ANIMALS 
and to tempt the miscellaneous reader to a search after truth in this 
obscure but deeply interesting subject—are the objects aimed at in 
the following pages. Few, even among geologists, seem inclined to 
view the subject in all its extent and importance, and little has yet 
been done to collect and arrange the scattered knowledge there is on 
the subject. If in this attempt the analogies should appear strained 
or fanciful, let them be fairly dealt with, and not too summarily dis- 
missed, for it is only by a view of the subject at once extended and 
minute that we can hope to arrive at just conclusions ; and it must 
not be forgotten that we are engaged in an investigation where there 
is but little light to guide us, although that little is fortunately well 
defined, and cannot easily mislead. We proceed to describe shortly 
the real nature and extent of our knowledge, by explaining some 
points of the comparative anatomy of the known animals of the class, 
as they have been elucidated by Mr. Owen and other excellent 
anatomists. 
The arms or feelers, extending from the aperture of the mouth, 
have been already alluded to as the organs both of locomotion and 
prehension. Formed for this double office, they are muscular and 
very strong, and provided with a series of suckers, by means of which 
any prey that may be taken is forcibly held, and readily conveyed 
into the mouth. 
As the prey thus obtained seems to consist chiefly of small crus- 
tacea and the animals inhabiting shells, there is a provision made for 
the mastication of such unpromising food in a system of powerful 
muscles connected with the mouth. Besides those at the entrance of 
this organ, we find strong retractor muscles of the jaws inserted round 
the opening of the cranium; while the bases of the jaws are sur- 
rounded with successive strata of compressor muscles, and the tongue 
is covered with sharp conical spines, and moved by strong muscles 
attached to a rudimentary bone at its root. 
The jaws themselves are hard and powerful, resembling much in 
appearance the beaks of a Parrot. They move vertically up and 
down, and not (as in other animals belonging to lower classes in or- 
ganization) transversely. They are often found fossil, and are, as 
may be imagined, admirably adapted to crush and grind those hard 
shelly defences which few other carnivorous inhabitants of the sea 
are able to break through. 
Connected with this apparatus of the mouth, there are found nu- 
merous secretory glands, to assist in the digestion of the food; a 
large liver, divided into lobes; and more than one stomach, the 
a 
