CHAPTER XV. 

 CUTTLES. 



THE old trouble about a name crops up again. We have 

 had to endure star-fish, jelly-fish, shell-fish, and now there 

 remains cuttle no, we will not say cuttle -yfr^. My neigh- 

 bours, the brave Cornish fishermen, do not say the word, 

 neither will I. With them it is " cuddle," with me it shall be 

 Cuttle, Squid, Octopus, and so forth. 



The term Gasteropoda has been explained as comprising 

 those mollusks whose belly is also their locomotive base, so it 

 will be easy to show that the class Cephalopoda consists of 

 those mollusks whose feet (tentacles) are ranged round their 

 head (Greek, Kephale, head, and poda, feet). They are the 

 most highly developed of all the mollusca, and consequently 

 come nearest to the back-boned animals (vertebratd). In 

 them we find the first form of a skull, for the nervous system 

 is more concentrated, and the brain has a cartilaginous cover- 

 ing. The head is distinct, and there are two large and 

 prominent though stalkless eyes. The jaws are powerful, 

 and these work in a similar manner to the bill of a bird. 

 There is a thick, fleshy tongue partly covered with hooks for 

 tearing flesh. The round or elongated body has usually a flap 

 on each side, which serve the office of fins. The respiratory 

 apparatus consists of two plume-like gills, enclosed in a large 

 branchial cavity, communicating with the outer waters by a 

 siphon or funnel. They also possess a bag of reliable black 

 ink, of so readily soluble and miscible a character that a little 

 ejected through a special duct will raise a dense cloud in the 

 water with great rapidity, and under its cover the cuttle can 



