CEPHALOPODS. 307 



each side, having their origin between the first 

 and second pair of legs, which are incrassated 

 at the end, where, also, they are furnished with 

 many suckers. Cuvier supposes they use these 

 as anchors to maintain them in their station 

 during tempests, and as prehensile instruments, 

 by which they can seize their prey at a dis- 

 tance. In the centre of the legs is the mouth, 

 surrounded by a tubular membranous lip, in- 

 cluding a beak, consisting of two mandibles, 

 like that of a paroquet ; these mandibles or 

 jaws are crooked, and the upper one fits into 

 the lower as a sliding lid into a box. With 

 these redoubtable jaws the cuttle-fish devours 

 fishes, crustaceans and even shell-fish, which 

 receive a further tritu ration in its muscular 

 crop and its gizzard. By .means of the suckers 

 on their legs and arms, they lay such fast hold 

 of their prey as to deprive them of all power 

 of motion ; thus they master individuals much 

 larger than themselves. The hard and often 

 spinose crust of crabs or lobsters cannot with- 

 stand the action of their trenchant jaws, and 

 they do not fear the gripe of their claws. Their 

 large eyes, which resemble those of vertebrated 

 animals, by their look of ferocity, are enough 

 to create an alarm in the animals they pursue, 

 and are said to see in the night as well as 

 the day. So that although they are not like 

 Pontoppidans Kraken the notion of which 



