THE CUTTLE-FISH. 93 



Cuttle-fish. Come with us, then, good reader, down amongst 

 the rocks at low water, where, half concealed by the weeds in 

 some little hollow, we are pretty sure to find a specimen that 

 will suit our purpose. Precisely ; here is the very one we want 

 dead, it is true, but full grown and in capital condition, 

 evidently as yet undiscovered by any of his agreeable but 

 hungry neighbours, who, greatly as they relish a dead Cuttle- 

 fish, have a wholesome dislike of getting too near a living one. 



Observe, then, that the Cuttle-fish is of a soft, flabby consist- 

 ency, and that its body, o an oval form, is bagged up in a sort 

 of sac* or pouch, something after the manner of those ingenious 

 youths who, tied up in sacks, hop a race, to add to the diversions 

 of a village fair. The Cuttle-fish, however, has this advantage, 

 you perceive, that its arms, or, as they are technically termed, 

 its feet, are ten in number, and quite free; and that, oddly 

 enough, they are arranged in a circle around the top of the 

 head ; thus accounting for the designation of the class as the 

 Cephalopods, or, more properly, the Cephalopoda, which in plain 

 vernacular is simply foot-headed. Turn these arms apart, and 

 two things will be noticed that the mouth of the Cuttle-fish, 

 which is armed with a pair of powerful jaws, shaped like the 

 beak ot a parrot, occupies the centre of the circle formed by the 

 junction of the arras, and that the arms themselves are covered 

 on their inner side with a multitude of little circular discs, 

 slightly raised above the surrounding surface. The eyes, you 

 perceive, are large and prominent, and, though somewhat dull 

 just now, and of a " lacklustre" appearance, had the Cuttle-fish 

 been alive and in the water, instead of lying dead upon the 

 beach, they would have been bright and staring, and expressive 

 of some considerable degree of intelligence. Such, on a hasty 

 glance, is the Cuttle-fish ; and in the main, and allowing for un- 

 important deviations from this the common type of the class, and 

 especially for the shell with which some of the species are 

 protected, such are all the Cephalopods. 



Examine the Cuttle-fish a little more carefully, however, and 

 many curious details of structure are perceived, which, on a 

 mere cursory inspection are unnoticed. Cease poking it, there- 

 fore, with the point of your parasol or the end of your walking- 

 stick, and stoop down to it, or take it up boldly in your hand. 

 Now press your finger against its back. There is something firm 



