B. IX.] THE HISTORY OF ANIMALS. 257 



their ova in the spring. The males and females of the se- 

 lachea also mix together, in numbers, in the autumn, for the 

 purpose of copulation ; but in the spring they separate 

 until they have produced their young ; at the period of 

 sexual intercourse, they are often taken united together. 



9. The sepia is the most cunning of the malacia, and is 

 the only one which uses its ink for the purpose of conceal- 

 ment, when it is not alarmed. The polypus and teuthis 

 emit their ink only when alarmed. These creatures never 

 emit all their ink, and as soon as it is emitted it is secreted 

 again. But the sepia, as it has already been remarked, 

 makes use of its ink for the purposes of concealment, and 

 when it pretends to advance, it returns into its ink. With 

 its long extended tentacula it not only pursues small fish, 

 but frequently attacks the cestreus. The polypus is a foolish 

 creature, for it will approach a man's hand if brought near 

 it. It is an economical animal, for it collects all its prey in 

 the hole in which it dwells, and when the most useful part 

 has been consumed, it ejects the shells, the coverings of 

 the cancri, and conchylia, and the spines of the fish, it pur- 

 sues any fish that may come in its way, changing its colour 

 and imitating that of any neighbouring stone. It does the 

 same thing when alarmed. 



10. Some persons say that the sepia has power to do the 

 same thing, and that it can imitate the colour of the place 

 it inhabits. The rhine is the only fish endowed with the 

 same power, for it can change its colours like the poly- 

 pus. The polypus rarely lives for two years, for it is by 

 nature subject to decay. This is a proof of it, that when 

 pressed, this animal always emits something, until at last it 

 consumes away. The females suffer so much from this in 

 the period of parturition, as to become foolish, and not per- 

 ceive any agitation of the waves, so that they are easily 

 taken by the hand of the diver ; they become like mucus, 

 and are not able to pursue their prey. 



11. The males become hard and shining. This appears to 

 be a proof that they do not survive a year, that in the 

 summer and autumn, after the production of the young, 

 it is difficult to find a large polypus, though large ones 

 were abundant a short time before ; when they have pro- 

 duced their ova, they say that both sexes grow old and be- 



