753 



SEPIAD^E. 



SEPIAD.E. 



751 



formidable Cephalopoda, and one cannot feel surprised that their fears 

 should have perhaps exaggerated their dimensions and destructive 

 attributes." 



Professor Owen then notices another structure, which adds greatly 

 to the prehensile powers of the uncinated Calamaries : " At the 

 extremities of the long tentacle*, besides the uncinated acetabula, a 

 cluster of small, simple, unarmed suckers may be observed at the 

 base of the expanded part. When these latter suckers are applied to 

 one another, the tentacles are firmly locked together at that part, and 

 the united strength of both the elongated peduncles can be applied to 

 drag towards the mouth any resisting object which has been grappled 

 by the terminal hooks. There is no mechanical contrivance which 

 surpasses this structure : art has remotely imitated it in the fabrica- 

 tion of the obstetrical forceps, in which either blade can be used 

 separately, or, by the interlocking of a temporary joint, be made to 

 act in combination." (' Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology,' 

 vol. i. ) 



Onychott'Uthti Bankiii. a, gladius, or dorsal support. 



There are five other species of Onychoteuihil found in the Atlantic, 

 Indian, and Pacific oceans. 



Loligo (Lam.). The species of this genus are described under the 

 article LOLIOO. We here subjoin an illustration of the Loligo vulgarit, 

 the Common Ca'.amary. 



Common Calamary (Loligo rtilgaii*). a, its pen or Internal suppott. 



M. De Blainville gives Loligo vvlgarii as the example of his genus 

 Pleroteuthit. There are 21 species of this genus, of which three are 

 British. 



DAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. IT. 



Sepia (Lam.). Animal with an oblong depressed body, with two 

 narrow lateral fins extending its whole length; mantle free at its 

 anterior margin ; the acetabula supported by homy hoops with the 

 margin entire or very minutely denticulated. 



Shell internal, lodged in a sac on the back part of the mantle, com- 

 posed of an external calcareous apex or mucro, of a succession of 

 calcareous lamime with intervening spaces filled with air, and supported 

 by columns (but not perforated by a siphon), and an internal horny 

 layer, oorrespon jg to the anterior horny sheath in the Belemnites. 



(Owen.) 



S. officinnlis.- 

 our coasts, and 

 beach. 



This is the Common Cuttle-Fish, so well known on 

 hose shell is so often thrown up by the waves on the 



Internal shell of Common Cuttlc-Fish (Sepia officinaUs). a, view of back ; 

 6, side view ; r, under Bide. 



The ink (nigito succus loliginis) is common to this and other species 

 of cephalopods. This fluid is not only ejected as a defence to 

 colour the water iu order to favour the escape of the animal, as was 

 well known to the ancients (Oppian, 'Halieut.,' iii. ; Pliny, 'Nat. 

 Hist.,' ix. 29), but as a direct means of annoyance. A gallant officer 

 who was inconsiderately collecting shells in a pair of immaculate 

 white trowsers, came suddenly upon one of the naked cephalopods 

 snugly harboured in a recess in the rock. They looked at each other, 

 and the cuttle, who had his eyes about him, and knew well how to 

 use them, upon seeing the enemy advance, took good aim, and shot so 

 true that he covered the snowy inexpressibles with the contents of 

 his ink-bag, and rendered them unpresentable either in drawing- 

 room or dining-room. 



That the juico was used by the ancients as ink is evident from 

 many passages : we content ourselves with a reference to that above 

 given, and to the lines in the graphic description of the idler by 

 Persius. (' Sat.' iii., lin. 10, et seq.) 



The flesh of the naked cephalopods was rather esteemed of old, as 

 it is indeed now in Italy and other countries. Aristotle declares that 

 these animals are in the highest season when pregnant, and those who 

 wish to taste a cuttle-fish sausage, will find a receipt for making that 

 savoury viand in Athensous. [CEPHALOPODA.] 



Mr. F. D. Bennett states that the Fe, or Cuttle-Fish, is considered 

 a luxury by all classes of the Sandwich Islanders, and that when 

 fresh and well cooked it is an excellent food, and in consistence and 

 flavour not unlike the flesh of a lobster's claw. (' Narrative of a 

 Whaling Voyage round the Globe,' London, 1840.) 



Independently of the swimming powers of the naked cephalopoda, 

 and their faculty of darting backwards in the water, they can, some 

 of them at least, throw themselves out of the water, and take leaps 

 analogous to flights. Thus Pliny says, and not without ground for 

 the assertion, " Loligo etiam volitat, extra aquam se efferens, quod et 

 pectunculi faciunt sagittoc modo." (' Nat. Hist.,' ix. 29.) It is not 

 improbable that one of the species, Loligo Sagitta, may have received 

 its name from the rapidity with which this leap or flight out of the 

 water is executed. 



Mr. F. D. Bennett, who describes the sea as peculiarly animated 

 between 28 and 31 N. lat., 154 and 160 W. long., observes 

 that the ship was constantly attended by such vast numbers of the 

 Albacore, that, when swimming, as is their custom, on the surface of 

 the water, they could be seen as a dense shoal extending several 

 hundred yards on every side of the ship, about which sword-fishes 

 (Xiphias) frequently came, "making destructive onslaughts" on the 

 Albacores. More rarely he noticed the Barracuda, and transient 

 shoals of Bonita. " Flying-Fish and (nearly allied to these in their 

 movements) Flying-Squid (Loligo) were also numerous. During a 

 calm, in 30 N. lat., the Flying-Squid appeared in larger flights thau 



3o 



