136 TEUTHID.E. 



SEPIOLA RONDELE'TI*, (Rondeletii) Leach. 



S. Eondektii, Leach, Zool. Misc. iii. p. 140 ; F. & H. iv. p. 220, pi. 

 MMM. f. 2 (as 8. Atlantica) and f. 3. 



BODY smooth, fleshcolour, with irregular blotches and spots 

 of dark purple ; underside of a paler hue ; the reflected edges 

 of the mantle, as well as the funnel, outer part of the fins, and 

 the inner sides of the tentacles and arms are yellowish- white : 

 mantle semioval or bell-shaped : fins leaf-like, proportionally 

 large, somewhat angulated at the top: tentacles vermiform, 

 in the male nearly twice as long as the head and mantle 

 together ; in the female not above ^ of that length ; club 

 crested outside, and closely studded underneath with very 

 minute equal-sized suckers : funnel small : head large : eyes 

 prominent ; " iris black, conjunctiva white " (Johnston): arms 

 short, the second ventral pair largest; suckers regularly 

 arranged in 2 rows, the largest in the middle ; in the female 

 they are crowded and 4-ranked on the tips of the lowest or 

 ventral pair of arms. L. 1-25-1-5. B. 0-625-0-75. 



SHELL thin. 



HABITAT : Every part of the British coasts, from 

 Shetland (Maclaurin) to Cornwall (Cocks and Laugh- 

 rin). It is not ^infrequently caught in shrimp-nets; 

 Forbes and Hanley give a depth of from 7 to 20 f. 

 among the Hebrides. Greenland (Holboll, /de Steen- 

 strup) to the JSgean (Forbes) . 



Mr. Alder's account is amusing : " This is an odd 

 fish, crouching generally at the bottom like a toad, with 

 its great goggle eyes half-closed, and sometimes crawling 

 along by means of its suckers, puffing the water through 

 the funnel all the time. When it does take to swim- 

 ming, it darts very quickly through the water, and is 

 difficult to catch. When taken out of the water and 

 placed on the hand, it had recourse to an odd mode of 

 progression, turning two or three somersets in tumbler- 



* From Eondelet, a French physician and naturalist. 



