84 STUDIES IN LIFE AND SENSE. 



V. 



THE PAST AND PRESENT OF THE 

 CUTTLEFISHES. 



FEW groups of the animal kingdom possess a greater interest, either 

 for the zoologist or for the general investigator, than that selected as 

 the subject of the present article. From the earliest ages in which 

 human curiosity concerning external nature began to develop into 

 scientific observation, the cuttlefishes have formed subject-matter of 

 remark. In the writings of the classic naturalists they receive a due 

 meed of attention. Their peculiarities of form and habits attracted 

 the notice of Aristotle and Pliny ; and even their development, in 

 its more readily observed phases, was studied in the days when 

 biology was but an infantile science. Tracing the lines of cuttlefish 

 lore onwards through the centuries of growing culture, we discern the 

 mediaeval spirit of exaggeration and myth seizing upon the group as 

 a likely subject for enlargement and discussion. In the fabulous 

 history and " folklore " of zoology, the cuttlefishes have over and over 

 again played a more than prominent part. In the days of their 

 mythical history they have swallowed whole fleets of ships ; they 

 have been credited more than once with the destruction of even an 

 armoured navy ; and on more than one occasion there can be little 

 doubt that they have played the parts of Sindbad's floating island, 

 and of the "great unknown,'' the sea-serpent itself. 



To the modern zoologist, however, eager in his search after the 

 causes which have wrought out the existing order of animal nature, the 

 cuttlefishes present themselves as an unusually interesting group. Re- 

 garded merely as to their structural details, there is no lack, but on the 

 contrary an overflowing amount of instructive lore in their anatomical 

 history. Their physiology is equally curious. The details of cuttle- 

 fish existence, from the consideration of their vital processes to that 

 of their ordinary habits and outward mode of life, present a well-nigh 

 endless variety of curious facts and unusual features. The establish- 

 ment of aquaria has naturally led to the better acquaintance of the 

 public with the cuttlefishes or rather with certain members of this 

 class, of which the octopus is the most notable example. Victor 

 Hugo's "Toilers of the Sea" may possibly be credited with the first 

 prominent introduction of the octopus to popular notice ; indeed of 

 the cuttlefish class it may be said, as was remarked of Byron 

 himself, that one morning they awoke to find themselves ranked 

 amongst the lions and celebrities of the day. It is sincerely to be 



