SEPIA. 9 



Thenoe< Mended about throe line*. It was universal! \ 



watery blue colour, finely snorkled red ; the eye large, round, black, and get 

 in a : It swam vivaciously in a ret roirrade diri-etion through 



\vater <if a cnpiicioua vessel. Tin- dimension* had sensibly augm. 

 in tin- course of a few hours ; yet the configuration of the external 

 organs remained imperfect ; the tentaenla stout and triangular, curving 

 towards each other : and tin- in-ide of the larger, when subjected to the 

 microscope, appearing studded with suckers. Two delicate fine were on 

 the convexity of the sac. But it is extremely diflicult to apply such an 

 objeet to the microscope, both on account of it* size and vivacity. What 



be the dimensions of these creatures, they constantly rise towards 

 the .-in fare of the water, and pursue their course around the sidea of 

 the vessel. Fig. 7, Nascent Sepia ; Fig. 8, the same, more enlarged. 



The lir-t animal was batched in thirty days. It had burst the inte- 

 gument by the protrusion of the sac, followed by the head and tentncula. 

 Other three, alike beautiful and vivacious as their precursors, escaped 

 next morning. June 13. The eyes of these young animals, large, round, 

 and black, arc double the size of the ink bag. They arc just at the root 

 of the ti-ntaeula , and when the Sepia seeks the side of the vessel towards 

 the light, they are of a beautiful green. The number liberated amount' <1 

 to fourteen in another day, including one which died in the birth. 



The figure and position of the organs were distinctly exposed by the 

 microscope on the 16th. The two fins, resembling thin transparent leaves, 

 with the most delicate veins, proved triangular, and affixed by the apex 

 to the animal rather below the base outwards. Viewed from below, the 

 was very large, both the pupil and iris, with a circular depression in 

 the centre of the pupil. At this period only six of the tcntacula were 

 visible, with the rudiments of other two perhaps at the roots of the shortest. 

 The tube may be discerned between the roots of the latter. 



Some internal organization was likewise exposed by the transparence 

 of the integuments. Two ovoidal masses, double the size of the eyes, 

 appear behind them. This is lower, and towards the sac, supposing the 



icula upwards ; and within the sac itself, towards the bottom, are 

 the gills or branchiae, if this name be appropriate to express internal 



B 



