CUTTLE-FISH 



CUVIEB 



blood, after being di-trilnited throughout the lx>dy, 

 U .-ollected in veins which traverse the walls of tfie 

 kidneys ami |H-I i.-imliiim, ami eventually pass to 

 ills, at the I .!-' of which a muscular dilatation 

 (branchial In-art) is situated, nerving to effect the 

 circulation of ill.- 1>1. io.| through the gills. 



The \r.ri'intx System consists of the three pairs 

 of gan,:_dia common to the Mollusca concentrated 

 round tin- <rsopliagus. One pair ((>edal) supplies 

 the arms and siphon ; a second (pleuro-visceral) 

 tin- xilN, viscera, and mantle; a third (cerebral) 

 the head and eyes. In the mantle on either 

 side is a large nervous mass (ganglion stellatum) 

 situated on the pleura! nerve, and supplying the 

 mantle. In addition to these parts, and connected 

 with them, there is a system of so-called 'enteric' 

 nerves, springing from the buccal ganglia, which 

 lie on the (esophagus just in front of the cerebral 

 ganglia. 



Or the Organs of Sense the eyes are the most 

 conspicuous. They occupy depressions in the head 

 cartilage, the hinder part of which is occupied by 

 the optic ganglia, ocular muscles, and a white 

 glandular substance of unknown function. The 

 retina consists of an inner layer of rods with 

 swollen bases, and an outer layer of nucleated cells 

 with a limiting membrane between them. The 

 retinal chamber is closed in front by a spheroidal 

 lens, made up of an inner and outer portion, which 

 are secreted separately by an epithelial structure 

 occupying a groove round its eouator. In front of 

 the lens is the iris, supported by a cartilage and 

 containing a sphincter muscle ; the outer surface 

 of the whole organ is formed by the transparent 

 cornea, which, though continuous in the Sepia, is 

 perforated in the members of a large group of 

 Cephalopoda ( (Egopsida ). 



The ears are a pair of small closed vesicles, 

 imbedded in the head -cartilage, and supplied by 

 nerves which, though apparently springing from 

 the pedal ganglia, really have their origin in the 

 cerebral. A ciliated pit, usually considered to be 

 olfactory in function, lies behind each eye. 



Generative Organs. The sexes are separate. The 

 testis and ovary are both single and situated in 

 the hinder part of the body ; the latter lies in the 

 visceral sac or pericardium above described, the 

 former in an almost closed diverticulum of it. The 

 eggs have a tough capsule, with a projection at 

 one end and a kind of handle at the other by 

 which they are attached in bunches to a twig of 

 seaweed or other similar substance. As in the 

 hen's egg, the proportion of nutritive to formative 

 yolk is very large, and the embryo, as it develops, 

 comes to stand head downwards on the former. 



Habits. The animals are found in littoral regions 

 or in moderately deep water ; ordinarily they rest 

 horizontally on or near the bottom, the fins gently 

 undulating, the tentacles retracted, and the arms 

 depressed ( see cut at CEPHALOPODA ). Progression 

 may take place by means of the fins with consider- 

 able rapidity in either direction, the funnel being 

 turned so that the stream of water issuing from it 

 assists in propulsion ; rapid darts backwards when 

 the animal is alarmed are brought alxnit either by 

 the sudden ejection of water through the siphon, or 

 by spreading out and reuniting^ the arms. When 

 feeding, the Sepia remains motionless till its prey 

 is within striking distance ; then the dorsal arms 

 are raised, the others open out sideways, the ten- 

 tacles are shot forth with the rapidity of lightning, 

 and the victim seized between their terminal clubs 

 (see cut at CEPHALOPODA). 



Distribution. Fifty-eight recent species of Sepia 

 have been described,* of which some forty or fifty 

 may be regarded as valid. By far the greatest 

 number belong to the Indo-Malayan region, whilst, 

 with one doubtful exception, none occur on the 



shores of the New World. About a dozen fowil 

 tot 1 1 is have been recorded from Tertiary deposit*. 

 For large and fabulous Cephalopodn, see OCTOPUS, 



KKI'KNT. 



Cutty Stool. See STOOL OP REPENTANCE. 



Cutworm, a term used loosely of worms or 

 grubs destructive to cabbage, beans, &c. 



Cnvier, the chief of modern comparative an- 

 atomists, the first to unite the palaeontology of 

 extinct forms with the anatomy of the extant, 

 important also as an educationist. Leopold 

 Christian Frederic Dagobert Cuvier, better known 

 by his adopted literary title Georges Cuvier, was 

 born on the 24th August 1769, in the town of 

 Montbeliard, at that time belonging to Wiirtem- 

 berg. His ancestors were Protestant refugees from 

 the Jura. He was destined by his parents for the 

 church, but early exhibited a predisposition for 

 natural history. In his education at Stuttgart, 

 he came under the happy influence of the botaniat 

 Kerner and the zoologist Kielmeyer. At the age 

 of eighteen he became tutor in a family living near 

 Caen, in Normandy. There the abundant fossil 

 Terebratulse of the shore, the cuttle-fish and other 

 molluscs landed by the waves, excited his eager 

 interest, and became subjects of close study. There 

 too he was introduced to Geoffrey St-Hilaire and 

 other Parisian savants. Geott'roy at once recognised 

 his abilities, and invited him to Paris. Cuvier 

 accepted the invitation, l>ecame first assistant, 

 and then professor of Comparative Anatomy in the 

 Jardin des Plantes. Elected a member of the 

 French Institute in 1795, he became in 1803 per- 

 manent secretary of the Academy of Sciences. In 

 1808 he undertook the reorganisation of public 

 instruction, and shortly before the fall of Napoleon 

 was admitted into the Council of State. After the 

 Restoration he was made Chancellor of the Uni- 

 versity of Paris. After a visit to England in 1818, 

 where he was received with great honour, he was, in 

 1819, admitted into the cabinet by Louis XVIII., 

 and in 1826 was made grand-officer of the Legion 

 of Honour. His decided opposition to the royal 

 measures for restricting the freedom of the press 

 lost him the favour of Charles X. Under Louis- 

 Philippe he was made a peer of France (Baron 

 Cuvier) in 1831, and in the following year he was 

 nominated Minister of the Interior. Then his 

 career was terminated suddenly from an attack of 

 paralysis of \\ hi.-h he died, May 13, 1832. 



Cuvier's life was characterised by extraordinary 

 activity. In his plans for the extension and im- 

 provement of national education, in his efforts for 

 the welfare of the French Protestant Church, and 

 in his scientific work, he was alike zealous and 

 indefatigable. On every hand he gave evidence 

 of gigantic intellect, and of honest, resolute char- 

 acter. He was conspicuous for an unsurpassed 

 grasp of concrete facto, rather than for originality 

 of suggestion or power of generalisation, and 

 remained a vigorous and formidable opponent of 

 the Theory of Descent. 



In several departments of zoology, CuvierV inde- 

 fatigable industry and giant intelligence achieved 

 great progress. (1) By marvellous energy in col- 

 lecting, examining, and dissecting, he vastly in- 

 creased the circle of accurately known forme, both 

 living and extinct. (2) This was done, however, 

 in a way which combined depth of insight with 

 increasing breadth of view. He penetrated below 

 external form to the internal structure, and not 

 content with empirical dissection, rationalised his 

 results in the first systematic com;>arative anatomy. 

 His profound anatomical studies Jed him further to 

 appreciate more clearly than heretofore thn unity 

 of the organism and the mutual dependence of ita 

 parts. In clearly defining the principle of tuft 



