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Cuttles, &c., and it is to the remains of a creature as it were 

 compounded of the elements of both of these that I now direct 

 attention. 



The plate on the opposite page represents one of these from 

 near Charmouth, which I had some time previously obtained. 

 The original is nearly twelve inches in length. It is surmounted 

 by ten rows of dark black spines, four double rows = 8 are 

 lin. long, while two are 2in. (see drawing, f. 1). The hooks 

 are smooth, and of a dark black colour, some of them are as 

 much as two lines in length, and all of them being more or 

 jess curved. 



These hooks were doubtless attached to the arms of the animal 

 which were prehensile organs, probably to enable the creature 

 to hold on to the saurians and fishes of the period ; woe betide 

 them, however, if they did not hold on tightly, as the cuttles 

 formed no inconsiderable portion of the food especially of the 

 Ichthyosaurus as is evidenced from the fact that the Coprolites 

 or fossilized faeces, and also the injesta of their stomachs are full 

 of these horny hooks. 



It will be seen that these rows of hooks are inclined to one 

 side, no doubt arising from the contortion of the soft parts 

 forming the neck. 



The next point, we would observe, is that of the dark elevated 

 mass below (fig. 3), this is the ink-bag, and this consists of a 

 bag of fossilized sepia pure Indian ink so fine in tone that on 

 being ground down and used as a pigment with water and a 

 little gum arabic, it makes a sepia picture, compared with which 

 the modern Indian ink is little better than writing ink. 



This ink bag, with its tube, is 3 inches long, and there can 

 be no doubt but that this once was the black fluid which the 

 squids had the power of ejecting when pursued by an enemy, 

 thus making the water so cloudy that the otherwise compara- 

 tively defenceless creature made its escape from its formidable 

 enemy in the ''blackness of darkness." 



Below the ink-bag is seen a small pointed projection, - of an 



