THE OCTOPUS AND CUTTLE FISH. 209 



power of discussing passing events with its congeners, and 

 exchanging views as to the flavour of the various fish that 

 form its diet, or as to advantageous spots for ambush ? We 

 can answer none of these questions. It certainly has but 

 a small chance of leading a higher life. The subterranean 

 world it sees around it is full of strife and destruction. 

 "The large fish eat the smaller fish, and so on ad infinitum? 

 It only plays the same game as those around it, but by 

 different methods, and there is no reason, because those 

 methods are repugnant to us, that the octopus should be 

 of the same opinion. Man is singularly intolerant in such 

 matters. He himself kills the creatures he requires for food 

 either by knocking them on the head, by cutting their 

 throats, or by shooting them. Fish he captures either 

 with nets or with a hook which sticks into their mouth or 

 throat. And yet he criticises severely the methods of the 

 animal creation. He dislikes the spider because like a 

 fisherman it catches its prey in nets. He shudders at the 

 cat because it plays with its victim just as the angler does. 

 He is shocked because the octopus lies in wait for its prey 

 and lassoes it as it passes. There is, in fact, no pleasing 

 man, and he is shocked at all methods of killing, even at 

 that most closely resembling those which he himself 

 employs in slaying the creatures on which he feeds. We 

 fear that there is a great deal of humbug about human 

 susceptibilities. 



Some of the cuttle fish are large manufacturers of ink. 

 These, instead of anchoring themselves to the bottom, 

 float near the surface, and their chance of obtaining food 

 would be small were it not for their power of ejecting ink, 

 and thus clouding the water and veiling themselves from 



W.L.-VIL 



