C UTTLE-FISUKS.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



179 



by the dilatation of the muscular investment of the 

 body. Now the forcible contraction of this invest- 

 ment cannot force the water out through the same 

 aperture, it therefore is urged smartly through the 

 funnel or siphon ; thus is respiration effected, but 

 as by simple mechanism two ends are often gained 

 in the economy of organic beings, so in this instance 

 Ihe respiratory organs are most efficient means of 

 locomotion ; it is by the discharge of the water 

 through the siphon that the cuttle propels itsel f along 

 in swimming. As the siphon points to the head, and 

 the water is thrown out in that direction, these ani- 

 mals, as must be evident, swim, with the head back- 

 wards, their eyes being always on the enemy from 

 whom they are escaping; the arms are either closed 

 together and projected so as not to impede them, 

 or act as oars in unison with the action of the bran- 

 chial cavities. Such species as have paddles or fin-like 

 expansions of the mantle, as the Sepia officinalis, 

 the calamary or flying-squid, are aided by them 

 in their aquatic movements ; but in octopus, which 

 has the limbs united by basal webs, the arms by 

 their flapping take an important part in the act of 

 swimming. Thus the cuttle-fish shoots rapidly 

 along, makes sudden darts and leaps; and many 

 species at least, as the calamary, can throw them- 

 selves out of the water and take sweeping leaps 

 resembling those of the flying-fish: a circumstance 

 not unknown to Pliny. A learned writer in the 

 ' Penny Cyclopaedia' says, " We well remember in 

 our youth going far out with an old fisherman of 

 Dawlish to visit his floating nets which he had laid 

 for the pilchards. As we looked down into the 

 clear blue water we could see that the number of 

 fish entangled wa.s great ; but to the great dis- 

 comfiture of the fisherman, who was eloquent on 

 the occasion, almost every other fish was locked in 

 the embraces of a cuttle-fish plying his parrot-like 

 mandibles to some purpose. The fisherman, who 

 seemed to regard these unbidden guests as an in- 

 carnation of all evil, carried a capacious landing- 

 net, but so quick was the sight of these cephalopods, 

 so ready were they in letting go, and agile in darting 

 back or sideways clear of the net, that, though the 

 greedy creatures held on to the last moment, the 

 fisherman did not secure above three out of the 

 crowds that had spoiled his haul." 



All have heard of the ink of the cuttle-fish, which 

 forms an admirable tint for painting. It is of a 

 rather dense consistence, and mixes readily with 

 water, a circumstance important to the animal itself, 

 as it is to the discoloration of the surrounding fluid 

 by its admixture that the creature trusts for conceal- 

 ment when threatened with danger. Cuvier drew 

 his figure of the cuttle-fish with ink extracted from 

 its own body. It appears besides that in fossil spe- 

 cimens of extinct species the ink will often retain 

 its character and qualities. Dr. Buckland gave to 

 the late Sir Francis Chantrey a portion of some 

 taken from a fossil specimen, requesting him to try 

 its power as a pigment, and he executed a drawing 

 with a portion of it. The drawing was shown to a 

 celebrated artist, who immediately declared it to be 

 tinted with sepia of e.xcellent quality, and begged 

 to know by what colourman it was prepared: the 

 sepia used in drawing is from the ink-bag of an In- 

 dian species of cuttle-fish, whence its name. 



Dr. Buckland has the drawings of extinct species 

 executed in their own ink, and from the perfection 

 and repletion of the ink-bag, he infers the sudden 

 destruction and rapid petrifaction of these beings. 

 The ink-bag is dift'erently seated in different species, 

 and is filled up with a spongy cellulosity saturated 

 with the inky matter, which is thrown out in great 

 abundance. In the octopus the ink-bag is enfolded 

 in the mass of the liver ; in the calamary it is placed 

 near the funnel ; in the sepia near the bottom of 

 the visceral cavity. Wherever it is seated a duct 

 leads from it into the siphon, through which the ink 

 is ejected at the will of the animal. Among the 

 modes of self-preservation with which various crea- 

 tures are endowed, this is one of the most singular. 

 Cuttle-fish, voracious and strong as they are, have 

 their destroyers, as the grampus and cachalot, &c. ; 

 no sooner do their quick eyes behold an advancing 

 enemy than they dart away under the obscurity of 

 a dark train which they leave in their course ; they 

 seek the bottom of the water, and, remaining quiet 

 and still, bury themselves in the sand under cover of 

 a murky cloud, or seek refuge in some hole or 

 fissure in a rock, and there wait till their enemy 

 retires. Most, if not all the naked species, have 

 the power of changing their tints more quickly than 

 the chameleon, and also of ejecting water upon their 

 assailant. 



" While looking for marine animals (says Mr. 

 Darwin) with my head about two feet above the 

 rocky shore (of St. Jago), I was more than once 

 saluted by a jet of water accompanied by a slight 

 grating noise. At first I did not know what it was, 

 but afterwards I found out that it was the cuttle- 

 fish, which though concealed in a hole thus often 

 led me to its discovery. That it possesses the 

 Vol. II. 



power of ejecting water there is no doubt, and it 

 appeared to me certain that it could moreover take 

 good aim, by directing the tube or siphon on the 

 under side of its body. I observed that one which 

 I kept in the cabin was slightly phosphorescent 

 after dark." The common polypus is said to be 

 luminous at night, and Linnaeus refers to a state- 

 ment by Bartholinus that one gave out so much 

 light when the candle was taken away, that the 

 whole building seemed on fire (ut totum palatium 

 ardere videretur), a palpable exaggeration. 



It is not only water that the cuttle-fish ejects as 

 a means of annoyance, but also its ink ; and a story 

 is related of an officer who was collecting shells in 

 a pair of immaculate white trousers, and who inad- 

 vertently disturbed one of these animals snugly 

 harboured in a recess of the rock : — " they looked 

 at each other, and the cuttle-fish, who had his eyes 

 about him, seeing the advance of his enemy, 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 

 the drawing-room or dining-room." This black 

 fluid was used by the ancients as ink, and the flesh 

 of these animals was highly esteemed by them as 

 delicate food; it is still eaten in Italy and other 

 parts of the continent. Mr. F. D. Bennett states it 

 IS considered a luxury by all the classes of the 

 Sandwich islanders, and that when fresh and well 

 cooked it is very good, resembling in flavour and 

 consistence the fiesh of a lobster's claw. 



The cuttle-fish are divided into octopods (with 

 eight limbs), and into decapods (with ten limbs) ; 

 to the former belong the octopus vulgaris and the 

 following species. 



2509. — The Ventricose Cuttle-Fish 



(^Eledone ventricosa). Octopus ventricosus, Grant. 

 In the genus Eledone the arms are provided 

 with a single series of sessile suckers, or acetabula. 

 A beautiful specimen of this animal captured in 

 1822 at St. Just, Cornwall, is preserved in the 

 Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. Its 

 arms, which are compressed and connected at their 

 roots by a thick web, have become spirally con- 

 voluted, in a very beautiful manner, before death, 

 by their contraction ; see the figure, beneath which 

 is a representation (a) of one of the suckers. In 

 the decapod cuttle-fish, besides eight arms shorter 

 than in the octopods, are two long additional arms, 

 which are retractile, and furnished with suckers, 

 restricted ordinarily to the enlarged and terminal 

 portion only. 



2510. — The Common Sepiola 



{Sepiola vulgaris). In the genus Sepiola the head 

 is large, and, owing to the development of the eyes, 

 equal in width to the body, which is scarcely ven- 

 tricose, and supported internally by a thin flexible 

 transparent dorsal lamina. Swimming-paddles are 

 extended from the sides of the body. 



The common Sepiola is a minute species found on 

 our coasts, about three inches in length ; its arms 

 are provided with minute numerous pedunculated 

 suckers; and the two long slender tentacular arms 

 are cylindrical, to near their termination, when they 

 expand a little, and are then furnished with suckers. 

 They proceed as in other decapods from between 

 the third and fourth arms on each side. 



2511, 2512. — ^The Short-abmed Sepiola 

 (Sepiola stenodactyla, Grant). This species, whic'i 

 exceeds the fiiitish species in size, is found on the 

 coasts of the .Mauritius, whence a specimen was 

 sent to the Zool. Soc. by C. Telfair, Esq., and is 

 described by Dr. Grant, as new to science, in the 

 ' Trans. Zool. Soc' vol. i. Its proportions are 

 massive, short, and broad, and its colour is a deep 

 purplish brown, extending to the point of the arms, 

 and is produced by closely-set spots of that colour ; 

 the tentacular arms are cylindrical, but expand 

 towards their termination, presenting there avillose 

 surface, but no suckers. The figures respectively 

 represent the animal in a back and front view. 



2513. — ^The Arctic Rossia 



(Rossia palpebrosa, Owen). In the genus Rossia 

 the body is ventricose ; two wide rounded subdorsal 

 fins ; anterior margin of the mantle free. Arms 

 rather short, trihedral : the acetabula pedunculated ; 

 the peduncles very short, in two alternating rows at 

 the base of the arms, aggregated in many rows at 

 their point: order of the length of the equal arms, 

 one, two, four, three. Tentacula equalling the body 

 in length, furnished at the apex with many very 

 small pedunculated acetabula. Gladius horny, nine 

 lines in length, a Uttle dilated below. 



Professor Owen, who established this genus upon 

 a cephalopod brought from the Arctic regions by 

 Captain James Ross, R.N., and taken near the 

 beach at Elwin Bay, Prince Regent's Inlet, on the 

 29th of August, 1832, states that it dift'ers from 

 Sepiola and Sepioteuthis in the form, proportions, 



and position of its lateral fins, and in the extent of 

 its horny dorsal style or gladius. In these respects 

 he observes, it bears a closer affinity to Sepiola, but 

 differs from it generally in having the anterior 

 margin of the mantle free in the whole of its cir- 

 cumference ; its natural position is therefore, in his 

 opinion, intermediate to Sepiola and Sepioteuthis, 

 which it connects together, as well by its inter- 

 mediate size, as by the peculiarities of its structure. 

 With reference to the development of the skin 

 surrounding the eyeball (whence the trivial name 

 palpebrosa), by means of which this animal evi- 

 dently possesses the power of defending the eye, Pro- 

 fessor Owen thinks that the utility of this provision 

 in seas abounding with ice is obvious, rig. 2514 

 shows (in outline) the head and arms of Rossia 

 palpebrosa on the dorsal aspect. 1, 1, the eyes 

 with the lids closed after death : a, the eight arms ; 

 a', one of the suckers magnified ; b, the two tentacles ; 

 b', a tentacular sucker magnified ; c, egg-sacs ; d, 

 eggs. 



2515. — The Rough Cranchia 



(Cranchia scabra). This species, which was first 

 figured in the Appendix to Tuckey's ' Congo,' is 

 furnished with a rough bursiform sac, with circular 

 caudal paddles touching each other at their origin ; 

 the arms are sessile and unequal ; the tentacles 

 pedunculated. It is of small size. 



251 6. — Ba nks' On ychoteuthis 

 (Onychoteuthis Banksii). In this genus the body 

 and tins are as in the genus Loligo; ventro-lateral 

 cartilages of the mantle long and narrow ; horny 

 hoops of the tentacular, and sometimes of the 

 brachial, acetabula produced into the forms of hooks 

 or claws. 



Gladius or internal support long, broadest in the 

 middle. 



Professor Owen, after dwelling on Dr. Roget's 

 accurate description of the mechanism by which the 

 suckers of octopus are worked, observes that still 

 there are circumstances in which even this remark- 

 able apparatus would be insufficient to enable the 

 cephalopod to fulfil all the offices in the economy 

 of nature for which it was created ; and that in those 

 species which have to contend with the agile, 

 slippery, and mucus-clad fishes, more powerful 

 organs of prehension are superadded to the suckers. 

 Thus in the calamary the base of the piston is, he 

 remarks, inclosed by a horny hoop, the outer and 

 anterior margin of which is developed into a series 

 of sharp-pointed curved teeth. These, as he states, 

 can be firmly pressed into the flesh of a struggling 

 prey by the contraction of the surrounding trans- 

 verse fibres, and can be withdrawn by the action of 

 the retractor fibres of the piston. " Let the reader," 

 adds the Professor, " picture to himself the project- 

 ing margin of the horny hoop developed into a long 

 curved, sharp-pointed claw, and these weapons 

 clustered at the expanded terminations of the tenta- 

 cles, and arranged in a double alternate series along 

 the whole internal surface of the eight muscular 

 feet, and he will have some idea of the formidable 

 nature of the carnivorous Onychoteuthis. 



" Banks and Solander," says Professor Owen in 

 continuation, " in Cook's first voyage, found the 

 dead carcass of a gigantic species of this kind, 

 floating in the sea, between Cape Horn and the 

 Polynesian Islands, in 30° 44' S. lat., 110° 33' W. 

 long. It was surrounded by aquatic birds, which 

 were feeding on its remains. From the parts of 

 this specimen which are still preserved in the 

 Hunterian Collection, and which have always 

 strongly excited the attention of naturalists, it must 

 have measured at least six feet from the end of the 

 tail to the end of the tentacles. The natives of the 

 Polynesian Islands who dive for shell-fish, have a 

 well-founded dread and abhorrence of the.se formid- 

 able cephalopods, and one cannot feel surprised 

 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 tentaclesj besides the uncinated aceatbula, 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 

 I 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 con- 

 trivance which surpasses this structure." The letter 

 a. Fig. 2516, represents the gladius. Fig. 2517 re- 

 presents the hooked suckers. 



2518. — The Common Calamary 

 (Loligo vulgaris). In this group the body is 

 elongated, cyclindrical, provided with a pair of 

 rhomboidal or triangular fins, shorter than the body, 

 and terminal, their apices generally converging to 



2 A2 



