CEPHALOPODA, 



Sepia, Lam. 



13 



The Sepise, properly so called, have the two long arms of a Loligo. 

 and a fleshy fin extending along the whole length of each side of the 

 sac. The shell is oval, thick, convex, and composed of numerous and 

 parallel calcareous laminae, united by thousands of little hollow 

 columns, running perpendicularly from one to the other. This 

 structure rendering it friable, causes it to be employed, under the 

 name of cuttle-bone, for polishing various kinds of work ; it is also 

 given to small birds in aviaries, for the purpose of whetting their 

 bills. 



The ink-pouch of the Sapise is detached from the liver and situated 

 more deeply in the abdomen. The glands of the oviducts are enor- 

 mous. The eggs are produced attached to each other in branching 

 clusters resembling those of grapes, and are commonly termed sea- 

 grapes. 



The species most commonly found in the seas of Europe, 

 Sepia officinalis, L. ; Rondel., 498, Seb., 111., iii, attains the 

 length of a foot and more. Its skin is smooth, whitish, and 

 dotted with red. 



The Indian Ocean produces another, Sepia tuber culata, Lam. 

 Soc. d'Hist. Nat., 4to. pi. i, f. 1*. 



Nautilus, Lin. 



In this genus Linnseus united all spiral, symmetrical and chambered 

 shells, that is to say, such as are divided by septa into several cavities ; 

 their inhabitants he supposed to be Cephalopoda. One of them, in 

 fact, belongs to a Ceph tlopode that strongly resembles a Sepia, but it 

 has shorter arms — it forms tlie genus, 



Spirula, Lam. 



In the hind part of the body, which is that of a Sepia, is an inte- 

 rior shell, which, although very different from the bone of that animal 

 as to figure, diff"ers but little in its formation. A correct idea of the 

 latter may be obtained by imagining the successive laminae, instead of 

 remaining parallel and approximated, to be concave towards the body, 

 more distant, increasing but little in breadth, and forming an angle 

 between them, thus producing an elongated cone, spirally convoluted 

 in one plane and divided transversely into chambers. Such is the 

 shell of the Spirula, which has additional characters consisting of a 

 single hollow column that occupies the internal side of each chamber, 

 continuing its tube with those of the other chambers to the very 



* Small bodies, armed with a spine are frequently found among: Fossils — they are 

 the extremities of the bones of the Sepiae. They constitute the genus Buloptera 

 Deshayes. See my note on this subject, Ann. dcs Sc. Nat. II, xx, 1, 2. 



There are some other — but petrified — Fossils, which appear to be closely allied to 

 the above bones. They are the Ryncholithes of M. Faure Biguet. See GaiU 

 lardot, Ann. des Sc. Nat., II, 485, and pi. xxii, and of Orbigny, lb,, pi. vi. 



