CUTTLE, OR INK-FISH. 3.39 



purposes ; but that of the common cuttle-fish is of a deeper or 

 blacker colour than in most other kinds. In some species it is of a 

 reddish-brown colour ; and from it is prepared, by the Chinese, the 

 brown and reddish-brown varieties of Indian. ink which are some- 

 times seen. The ancient Romans, as appears from several passages 

 in their writings, made use of the juice of the cuttle-fish by way of 

 an ink ; but they seem to have been unacquainted with any other 

 mode of preparing it, than that of merely mixing or dissolving it in 

 water. The female cuttle-fish deposits its eggs in numerous clus- 

 ters, on the stalks of fuci, on corals, about the projecting sides of 

 rocks, or on any other convenient substances. These eggs, which 

 are of the size of small filberds, and of a black colour, are popu- 

 larly known by the name of sea grapes: each individual egg is of an 

 oval shape, but with a somewhat sharpened point; the young pro- 

 ceeds from it complete in all its parts, and dillering from the parent 

 animal in no other respect than that of size. 



The calamary, loligo, pen-fish, or smaller ink fish, is a species 

 scarcely less formidable than the preceding. It is of a much more 

 lengthened shape, of a dark colour, and with the two long additional 

 arms of greater length in proportion ; and on each side the tail is an 

 expansion or process, forming a kind of short triangular fin. This 

 animal is also an inhabitant of the European seas, but is less common 

 than the cuttle-fish. It has the same habit of occasionally darken- 

 ing the water by the discharge of its ink. Instead of the remarkable 

 calcareous bone belonging to the common cuttle fish, we find in the 

 calamary a long, thin, transparent, pen-shaped cartilage, of a curious 

 appearance, pointed at the tip of the dilated part, and semicylin- 

 drical at the other end, somewhat representing the stem of a quill. 

 This is supposed to be the reason of the name of calamary, applied 

 to this species. Its general habits are very similar to those of the 

 cuttle-fish. It is a very prolific animal, and the eggs are of a very 

 singular and curious appearance : they are deposited in the form of 

 numerous lengthened groups, radiating from a common centre, and 

 spreading every way into a circular form : each egg is of a glassy 

 transparency, and the young animal may be very distinctly observed 

 in each, many days before the period of exclusion. These groups 

 of the eggs of the calamary are often seen swimming on the surface, 

 and are occasionally thrown on shore ; the groupe sometimes mea- 



3 A 4 



