BBPU 11 



,: as that lately nan. ' /. 'ifjo. Its history, however, should 



be prosecuted farther. 



The aspect of the spawn of tin- Cuttle Fi.-h is extremely \aried ; nor, 

 without possession of tin- parent from which it is obtained, can we ]>n>- 

 nouure delinitely DIJ the species of several clusters procured on July 7, 

 and 11. One of the latter consisted of at li-a.-t thirty grapes, few, if any, 



iding an inch. A cluster of that of the former consisted of N 

 somewhat longer. These resembled an icicle, clearly exposing the con- 

 td as ova with the fu-tus, in various stages. 



One grape, the most transparent, consisted of about forty minute 

 separate and distinct spherical ova, each in the thinnest capsular integu- 

 ment. Others exhibited nine, ten, twelve, twenty, thirty-three capsules 

 respectively, with the foetus in various stages of progress; but they were not 

 in any definite arrangement ; so plastic, nevertheless, that no space is lost 

 among them. The cuntenta of the grape with forty embryos were least 

 advanced. In four of the others, the capsules, swollen to two or three, 

 lines in diam posed the embryos stretched almost straight. These 



fell readily through the interior of their capsules, without any organic 

 action, merely on shifting the position of the grapes. The same disten- 

 sion and internal rarefaction of the capsule succeeded here as before, and 

 even to a greater degree, as evinced by the readier fall of the foetus. It 

 may be asked, whether this intumescence does not result from the extri- 

 cation of some gaseous matter preparatory for the respiration of the 

 young ? 



Fourteen or r-ixtmi young animals having issued from the spawn, 

 proved the protrusion from the sac first, but that several nascent ani- 

 mals, unable to free themselves, perish in the birth. 



The subsistence and increment of those creatures, visibly coming to 

 maturity in the egg, is derived from the vitellus or yolk, as we denomi- 

 nate it, which is included within its own peculiar integument. 



Each of the young Cuttle Fish is produced with a substance resem- 

 bling a pearl in its mouth, at least so situate amidst the tentacula that 

 they canuot close together. This substance may be recognised as the 

 foetus approaches to maturity in the egg, when it affects very much the 



