244 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



vertical jaws, like a parrot's beak, and furnished 

 inside with a tongue bristling with horny protuber- 

 ances ; all round this mouth set a hedge of fleshy- 

 appendages, supple, vigorous, retractile, sometimes 

 longer than the body itself, and frequently armed on 

 their sides with two rows of suckers, and you will 

 have some approximate idea of the Cephalopoda, — so 

 named by Cuvier, because they have their feet on 

 their heads, — the appendages which I have just men- 

 tioned being, in fact, both feet and arms, and serving 

 for every purpose of prehension and locomotion. 



The Cephalopods are mollusks of the highest 

 order. The nervous ganglions which are grouped 

 around the oesophagus give them a kind of resem- 

 blance to the vertebrated animals. They have a 

 lower order of brain, which is protected by a carti- 

 lage, which is a rudimentary skeleton, and commu- 

 nicates with the principal muscles. The circulation 

 of the blood is like that of fishes. The eyes of some 

 are quite like those of vertebrated animals, and in 

 all species the sexes are distinct. These character- 

 istics raise them to the foremost rank among the 

 mollusks ; nor are they without the dignity of an 

 ancient origin, seeing that their creation dates back 

 to very remote periods of the world's history. 



All the known kinds of them are marine, and are 

 carnivorous. Some frequent the open sea, and 

 others hover about the coasts. The shores of the 

 Mediterranean and, above all, those of Greece are 



