OCTOPODA. 



OCTOPODA. 



the outside of the shell and on the breadth of the keel. The absence 

 or presence of projecting pointed processes at the sides of the aperture 

 near the spiral part cannot safely be relied on as a specific character : 

 we possessed both broad-keeled and narrow-keeled specimens (now in 

 the British Museum), in which the projecting process was present on 

 one side of the shell and absent on the other. They arc inhabitants 

 of the seas of warm latitudes, both littoral and pelagic. 



Eledonc (Aristotle ; Leach). Aims provided with a single series of 

 sessile acetabula. 



E. tentricosa (Octopus ventricosus, Grant). Body short, round, the 

 eight arms connected at their base by a membrane. 



Eledonf rottiifosn. a, Sucker of Eltdone. 



Our cut was taken from a beautiful specimen captured at St. Just, 

 Cornwall, in 1822, and preserved in the Museum of the College of 

 Surgeons, among the preparations illustrative of natural history in spirit, 

 N'.>. I'll A. " Its arms are compressed, and connected at their roots 

 by a thick web, and in the contraction preceding death they have 

 become spirally convoluted in a very elegant manner ; the three upper 

 or dor<:ii pairs describing four gyrations, the ventral pair five; the 

 surface of the integument is slightly wrinkled and granulate; it is of 

 a mottled lilac or livid colour behind, but is smooth and approaches 

 to white on the opposite aspect of the arms." (' Catalogue,' part iv., 

 fasc. 1.) 



Octopus (Lam., noAi/rovr, Antiq. ; and Leach). Arms provided with 

 a double alternate series of sessile acetabula. 



0. rulgaris (Sepia octopodia, Linn.; Sepia octopta, Omel. Body 

 short and ovoid, the eight arms connected at their base by a wide 

 membrane. 



It is found in the European seas, and has been taken in Great Britain. 



This is the Eight-Armed Cuttle of Pennant ; the Poulp, or Preke, 

 of the English. Professor Owen has given a very good figure of this 

 npecies, representing it in the act of creeping on the shore, its body 

 being carried vertically in the reverse position with the head down- 

 wards, and its back being turned towards the spectator, upon whom 

 it is supposed to be advancing. (' Cyclopedia of Anatomy and Phy- 

 siology," vol. i. f. 210.) This is the cephalopod which is said to be 

 luminous in the dark. Linnaeus quotes Bartholinus for the statement 

 that one gave out so much light, when the candle was taken away, 

 " ut totum palatiutn ardere videretur." It has also been alleged that 

 I >plication of its suckers upon any part of the human body 

 illammation and subsequent pain. 



Three specimens of Octopiu rulyarii are preserved in spirit. (Mus. 

 Surg., Nos. 162, 163, 164.) 



It wai probably a species of Octopiu that Mr. Beale encountered 



while searching for shells upon the rocks of the Bonin Islands. He 



wa much astonished at seeing at his feet a most extraordinary looking 



I crawling towards the surf, which it had only just left. It was 



tig on its eight legs, which, from their soft and flexible nature, 



bent considerably under the weight of its body ; so that it was lifted 

 by the efforts of Its tentacula only a small distance from the rocks. 

 It appeared much alarmed at seeing him, and made every effort to 

 escape. Mr. Beale endeavoured to stop it by pressing on one of its 

 legs with his foot ; but although he used considerable force for that 

 purpose, its strength was so great that it several times liberated its 

 member, in spite of all the efforts he could employ on the wet and 

 slippery rocks. He then laid hold of one of tlie tentacles with his 

 hand, and held it firmly, so that the limb appeared as if it would be 

 torn asunder by the united efforts of himself and the creature. He 

 then gave it a powerful jerk, wishing to disengage it from the rocks 

 to which it clung so forcibly by its suckers. This effort it effectually 

 resisted ; but the moment after, the apparently enraged animal lifted 

 ita head with its large projecting eyes, and, loosing its hold of the 

 rocks, suddenly sprang upon Mr. Beale's arm, which he had previously 

 bared to the shoulder for the purpose of thrusting it into holes in tho 

 rocks after shells, and clung with its suckers to it with great power, 

 endeavouring to get its beak, which Mr. Beale could now see, between 

 the roots of its arms in a position to bite. Mr. Beale declares that a 

 sensation of horror pervaded his whole frame when he found that this 

 monstrous animal had fixed itself so firmly on his arm. He describes 

 its cold slimy grasp as extremely sickening, and he loudly called to 

 the captain, who was also searching for shells at some distance, to 

 come and .release him from his disgusting assailant. The captain 

 quickly came, and taking Mr. Beale down to the boat, during which 

 time the latter was employed in keeping the beak of the Cuttle away 

 from his hand, quickly released him by destroying his tormentor with 

 the boat-knife, when he disengaged it by portions at a time. Mr. Bealo 

 states that this cephalopod must have measured across its expanded 

 arms about four feet, whilst its body was not bigger than a largo 

 clenched hand. It was the species called by the whalers Rock-Squid 

 (' Natural History and Fishery of the Sperm Whale.') 



Eight-Armed Cuttle (Octoput rulgarli). 



" The males of some species of Octopus and Eledonc ans similar to 

 the femalis, but are comparatively scarce. Only the females of many 

 others are known, and every specimen of the Argonaut hitherto 

 examined (amounting to many hundreds) has been of that sex. Dr. 

 Albert Kolliker has suggested that the real males of the Argonaut, and 

 also of Octoput granulatns, and Tremoctopus violaceiis, are the Ifecto- 

 cotyles, previously mistaken for Parasitic Worms. The Hectocotyle of 

 Octopus granulatus was described by Cuvier, who obtained several 

 specimens from Octopods captured in the Mediterranean. It is 5 

 inches in length, and resembles a detached arm of the Octopiu ; 

 its under surface being bordered with 40 or 50 pairs of alternate 

 suckers. 



" The Hectocotyle ot Trcmoclopui was discovered by Dr. Kollikcr at 

 Messina in 1842 adhering to the interior of the gill chamber and 

 funnel of the poulp ; the body is worm-like, with two rows of suckers 

 on the ventral surface, and an oval appendage at the posterior end. 

 The anterior part of the back is fringed with a double series of 

 branchial filaments. Between the branchite are two rows of brown 

 or violet spots, like the pigment cells of the Tremoctopus, The suckers 

 closely resemble those of the Tremoctopus in miniature. Between the 

 suckers are four or five series of pores, the openings of minute canals 

 passing into the abdominal cavity. The mouth is at the anterior 

 extremity, and is minute and simple; the alimentary canal runs 

 straight through the body nearly filling it. The heart is in tho 

 middle of the back, between the branchiae; it consists of an auricln 

 and a ventricle, and gives origin to two large vessels. There is also 

 an artery and vein on each side, giving branches to the branchia 

 filaments. A nerve extends along the intestine, and one ganglion has 



