SHELL-FISH. 303 



enemies, were they not furnished with the following 

 singular mode of escape. In their body there is a bag, 

 or reservoir, which contains a dark-coloured fluid. This, 

 when alarmed, they discharge, and as it mixes with the 

 surrounding water, conceals them from observation and 

 pursuit. The fluid of these animals was used by the an- 

 cients as ink ; and it is supposed that the Chinese make 

 of it what is called Indian ink. The greater part of the 

 Cuttle-fish are small animals, but some of them are of 

 large size. In a very respectable French work on Natu- 

 ral History, one of these animals is represented in the 

 act of seizing upon, and destroying, a three-masted ves- 

 sel!!! 



STAR-FISH are of a flat and circular shape, divided into 

 several arms, and covered, on the upper surface, with a 

 hard and tough kind of crust. Some of the species, par- 

 ticularly that called the Five-fingered Star-Jlsh, are very 

 common upon the sea-shores, left there by the ebbing of 

 the tide. Their mouth is surrounded with five teeth, and 

 is situated in the centre of the under part of the body. 

 Beneath each of their arms there are immense numbers 

 of soft tentacula, by which they are enabled to adhere to 

 rocks and other solid bodies. 



ORDER III. TESTACEOUS ANIMALS. 



The name ofShell-fsh is that which is usually, though 

 somewhat incorrectly, applied to these animals. The 

 shells of some of them are divided into several pieces, or 

 valves ; others have only two of these ; and others, which,- 

 like the snails and periwinkles, have one entire shell, are 



