68 CTTTLE FISn. 



called Sepia or Cuttle-fish. But before ^\^e go any further, 

 let us enquire what is meant by a Cephalojiod . Our readers 

 have already learned that Gasteropod means stomach and foot, 

 and that acephalous means headless; now here we have a word 

 wliich takes a portion of each of the others, cipJial — head, 

 and pcda^ or ^;of/rtf — a foot, consequently cepli-a-lo-po-da, is a 

 class of molluscous animals which have their feet, or organs 

 of motion, arranged around the head, something, you may 

 suppose, like that celebrated hero of nursery rhymes, 



''Tom Toddy, all head and no body," 



Only our bag-shaped Mr. Sepia, with his great round staring 

 eyes, and numerous legs or arms, whichever you please to call 

 them, all twisting and twining about like so many serpents, 

 is a much more formidable looking individual. A strange 

 fellow is this altogether; he has a shell, but he does not use 

 it for a covering, he carries it inside of him, and it serves 

 the purpose of a sort of back-bone; it is homy and calcarious, 

 light and porous, as our readers well know, having most 

 likely often used it to take out unsightly blots, or erase mis- 

 takes in their copy or cyphering books. 



AVhen ^Ir. Sepia walks abroad, he sticks his little round 

 })ody upright, so that his eyes and mouth, wliich is armed 

 with a pan'ot-like beak, are brought close to the surface over 

 which he passes, while his long twining legs go sprawling 

 about in all directions; on the insides of these legs, are a 

 great number of small circular suckers, by means of which 

 the animal can fix itself to any object 8o tightly that it is 

 almost impossible to detach it without tearing off part of the 

 limb. Woe be to the poor unfortunate fish that chances to 

 come in its way; the snaky arms are thrown around it, and 

 made fast, and away goes the cephalopod for a ride, eating 

 on the road to lose no time, on the finny steed that carries 

 it. In some species each of the suckers has a hook in the 

 centre, which of course renders the hold yet firmer, and no 

 doubt adds to the disagreeable sensation which their tight com- 

 pression must cause; it is likely that these hooks are intended 

 to retain the hold of soft and slippery prey, which might 

 otherwise be too agile far the ''ugly customer," that would 



