CEPHALOPODA. / 



Uro large glands which envelope them in a viscid matter, and colleql 

 them into clusters. The testis of the male, placed like the ovary, 

 communicates with a vas deferens which terminates in a fleshy penis, 

 situated on the left of the anus. A bladder and prostate terminate 

 there likewise. There is reason to believe that fecundation is 

 effected by sprinkling, as is the case with most fishes. In the spawn- 

 ing season the bladder contains a multitude of little filiform bodies, 

 which, by means of a peculiar mechanism, are ruptured the moment 

 they reach the water, where they move about with great rapidity, 

 and diffuse a humour Avith which they are filled. 



These animals are voracious and cruel ; possessed both of agility 

 and numerous modes of seizing their prey, they destroy immense 

 quantities of fish and Crustacea. Their flesh is eaten ; their ink is 

 employed in painting, and the Indian, or China ink is supposed to be 

 made from it.* 



The Cephalopoda comprise but a single order, which is divided 

 into genera, according to the nature of the shell. 



Those which have no external shell, according to Linnaeus, formed 

 but the single genus, (a) 



Sepia, Lin.* 



Which is now divided as follows : 



Octopus, Lam. — Polypus of the ancients, 

 Have but two small conical granules of a horny substance, on the 



* M. Ab. R^musat, however, can find nothing in the authors of China which 

 confirms this idea. 



t M. de Blainville makes an order of them, which he calls the Cryptodibran- 



CHITA. 



{^ (a) Ofcourse this genus in not included is theTestacea, although it is custom- 

 ary for certain amateur naturalists to regard the cuttle-fish (sepiaoflacinalis)asa shell- 

 fish. In the system of Lamarck, the Cephalopoda constitute the fourth order of his 

 Twelfth Class of luvertebrated Animals. He has arranged the genera, (some of 

 which are noticed in the present section by Cuvier), in the following manner, for 

 which we are indebted to C. Dubois, Esq. 



TWELFTH CLASS. 



MOLLUSCA. 



Order IV. — Cephalopodts. 



Character of the order : — Mantle of the animal in the form of a sack, containing 

 the lower part of the body ; head projecting above the sack, crowned with arms 

 not articulated, furnished with suckers, which surround the mouth; two sessile 

 eyes ; two corneous mandibles at the mouth ; three hearts ; the sexes separated. 

 They live in the sea, floating at large, attaching themselves to marine bodies at 

 will : others only drag themselves along, by means of their arms, at ihe l.^yi lum of 



• the water, or on its banks ; the greater pai-t of these are generally secluded in the 



