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CHAP. XXII. 



* 



MOLLUSCA CUTTLE-FISH. 



Cuttle Fish : its Habits and Structure. Varieties of Species. 



THE second class of the encephalous molluscs, of 

 which we have just been examining a few speci- 

 mens, is, as already stated, extremely numerous ; a 

 vast multitude and variety of species being found 

 on our sea-shores. The third and remaining class 

 however, presents but few varieties. It is en- 

 titled the Cephalopoda or class of molluscs whose 

 heads are the organs of locomotion, as the scien- 

 tific term signifies. 



Of this class the cuttle-fish is the only ex- 

 ample to which we shall refer. This creature 

 is in its organisation the most elevated of all the 

 class to which it belongs. Its muscular and 

 nervous system, its organs of respiration, and 

 its internal skeleton contribute to give it a close 

 analogy as regards its structure to those animals 

 known to naturalists as the vertebrata, because 

 possessed of internal skeletons, or strictly speak- 

 ing because furnished with a backbone. 



The cuttle-fish may often be found cast ashore 

 after a storm. Let us suppose our reader to have 

 discovered one and submitted it to an examina- 

 tion. The body, it will be perceived, is soft, 

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