4 i8 



ANIMAL LIFE-HISTORIES 



- 943. Spawn of Squid (Loligo], X 



attached Each individual egg is surrounded by a firm invest- 

 ment. In the Common Cuttle- Fish (Sepia, fig. 944) each egg 

 is enclosed in a firm spindle-shaped capsule about the size of 

 a hazel-nut, and a number of these are fixed to sea-weeds or 



stones, looking some- 

 thing like a bunch of 

 grapes. 



Among eight-armed 

 forms (Octopods) a 

 common British species 

 (Eledone mosckata) de- 

 posits small groups of 

 egg-capsules, which are 

 attached to various 

 firm substances. The 

 Poulpes (Octopus] lay their eggs in ovoid capsules, of which a 

 large number are united by their stalks into a long necklace- 

 like string. This is fixed to a rock, and the mother, broods 

 over it, hastening the development of the eggs by ejecting 



streams of water. The beautiful shell 

 of the female Paper Nautilus (Argonaiita) 

 serves as a nursery, for to its inner side 

 she attaches her grape-like mass of egg- 

 capsules. 



The eggs of one species of Pearly 

 Nautilus (Nautilus macromphalus), accord- 

 ing to the recent observations of Willey 

 in the sea adjoining New Caledonia, are 

 deposited singly during the night, being 

 fixed by a spongy substance to some suit- 

 able surface. Each of them is enclosed in a 

 double capsule, of gristly consistency. The 

 inner layer of this forms a regular oval 

 case, but the outer layer is very irregular. 

 So far as known development is always 



direct in Cephalopods, the egg containing sufficient yolk to obviate 

 the necessity of premature hatching as a larval form. 



Few members of the group can be said to possess dwellings, 

 but creatures of the Octopus kind, which have to some extent 

 given up swimming for creeping (see p. 109), lurk in caves and 



Fig. 944. Egg-Capsules of Cuttle- 

 Fish (Sepia) 



