CUTTLE, OR INK-PISH. 357 



cuttle-fish is distinguished by having a fleshy and somewhat length- 

 ened body, seated or enveloped in a kind of sheath, reaching nearly 

 to the head of the animal. The head is furnished with very large 

 eyes, and a horny, central beak, consisting of two mandibles, and 

 resembling that of a parrot. Round the base of the head arise 

 eight long arms, in a radiated direction, and in some species are two 

 additional arms, of a much greater length than the rest. All these 

 arms are beset, on their internal surface, with numerous, round, 

 concave cups, or suckers, which adhere so strongly to whatever sub- 

 stance the animal chuses to attach itself to, as not to be separated 

 without great force. 



Exclusive of these characters, the animals of this genus are fur- 

 nished with an internal pouch or receptacle, filled with a very dark- 

 coloured fluid, in some species intensely black : this fluid they dis- 

 charge at pleasure through a tubular orifice situated at the base or 

 the breast. 



The most common European species of this genus is the Sepia 

 Officinalis of Linnaeus, generally known by the name of the Cuttle- 

 Jish. This animal, which, at its full growth, measures about two 

 feet in length, is of a pale bluish-brown colour, with the skin marked 

 by numerous dark-purple specks. Imbedded in the back or fleshy 

 part of the body of this species is always found a large oblong-oval, 

 calcareous bone, of a cellular texture, and which is of so light a na- 

 ture as to float in water. It has been supposed that the animal has 

 the power of filling the minute cellules of this bone with air, or of 

 exhausting them of it at pleasure, in order to ascend or descend 

 with the greater facility. This bone of the cuttle-fish is often found 

 in considerable quantities, cast on the shores, and forms a small ar- 

 ticle of commerce, being used for various purposes by different arti- 

 ficers. It also serves, when reduced to powder, as a good common 

 dentifrice, and is indeed considered as one of the most innocent that 

 can be used for that purpose. 



The anatomy of the cuttle-fish is highly curious, and has long 

 ago been detailed by Swammerdam and others; and was even not 

 unknown to the ancients. The animal is furnished with a pair of 

 large lungs, or respiratory organs, situated nearly as in quadrupeds, 

 but they are constituted on a different principle, and are more allied 

 to the gills of fishes. The most striking particularity however in 

 this animal, is that of having three distinct hearts : these are situated 



2 A3 



