78 Part second. 



complete control over this change of colours; this is seen from the 

 protective colouring, which they assume when they lie on the sand or 

 on dark rocky ground; in either case they can hardly be distinguished. 

 The males court the females with great ardour and in their excited 

 state produce most brilliant colours over their body. The female lays 

 large, black, pear-shaped eggs and fixes them singly to corals and algae, 

 usually closely together, so that they form large grape-like clusters 

 (often visible in tank Nr. 19). As soon as the young are hatched they shew 

 their proficiency in changing their colouring and emitting the sepia. 



The Cuttlefish is an important article of commerce : its flesh is eaten, 

 the cuttle-bone is used for polishing wood and as tooth-powder, and 

 the ink commands a high price. 



The Calmar or Squid (Loligo vulgaris, Fig. 15), very common in 

 winter, is unfortunately too delicate for the Aquarium. Like a swarm 

 of birds, slowly beating their fins, these transparent animals swim back- 

 wards and forwards, without turning round, until they die ; usually only 

 a few days after their capture. The slightest disturbance puts them in 

 a state of great alarm and causes their milk-white bodies to show the 

 most lovely red tints. They can be fed with small shrimps and will 

 be seen to use their long arms like the cuttlefish. Their flesh is eaten 

 very generally; the "pen" corresponding to cuttle-bone is trans- 

 lucent, flexible and shaped like a feather. Like Sepia they secrete ink; 

 hence the Italian name of Calamajo (ink-pot). 



It is certain that the Cephalopoda can attain enormous dimensions, 

 and from occasional specimens have probably arisen the legends of the 

 Kraken, if not of the sea-serpent. Thus Pliny relates a story of an 

 animal of this kind, which came at night to the fish-tanks of Carteja, 

 and frightened the dogs away by its snorting and its terrible arms. The 

 head which was shewn to Lucullus, was as large as a barrel holding 15 

 amphorae of wine, and its arms were so thick, that a man could scar- 

 cely clasp them and measured 30 feet in length, while the suckers they 

 bore contained an urn full of water. Montfort tells of an Octopus that 

 tore a couple of sailors from the rigging of a ship near St. Helena; the 

 end of one of its arms , which caught in the tackle , was hewn off and 

 measured 25 feet. On the coast of Newfoundland in 1875 an extra- 

 ordinary number of such gigantic animals were found either dead or 

 dying on the surface of the sea. On the average they must each have 

 weighed half a ton; their long arms reached a length of 40 feet. On 

 the coasts of Alaska, Japan, New-Zealand and on the Pacific island of 

 St. Paul similar monsters have been observed; a gigantic arm is in the 

 British Museum. 



Like the Cephalopods, the Gastropods (Snails and Slugs) have a head 

 distinctly marked off from the body; it is devoid of arms, but there is 

 present a so-called foot, i. e. a portion of the body is flattened out like 

 the sole of a foot and is used for crawling, which is generally the only 

 means of locomotion possessed by the Snails. In many forms the viscera 

 are contained in a spirally coiled, calcareous shell , the snail-shell, into 

 which the rest of the body can be retracted. The shell is secreted by 



