130 LECTURE X. 



fiery in a high degree : the exterior coat or ball 

 of the eye is remarkably strong, so as to seem 

 almost calcareous, and is when taken out of a 

 brilliant pearl-colour, and they are worn in some 

 particular parts of Italy, and in the Grecian islands 

 by way of artificial pearls in necklaces. The 

 Cuttle-Fish, like the rest of its tribe, is of a pre- 

 dacious nature, and feeds on fishes, shell-fish, and 

 other marine animals, and is, no doubt, a highly 

 formidable adversary; since it possesses the power 

 of fastening itself so closely by the assistance of 

 the suckers or cups of its arms, that no animal, 

 unless of very considerable size and strength, can 

 be supposed to liberate itself from its grasp. Its 

 favourite residence is between the vacuities or 

 clefts of submarine rocks, where it is generally 

 sure of meeting with plenty of food, and, in defect 

 of which, in such situations, it occasionally sallies 

 out into the ocean in pursuit of prey. During 

 these excursions, on the approach either of danger 

 to itself, or the more easily to prevent the escape 

 of its intended prey, it discharges, from the tubu- 

 lar orifice at the breast, a quantity of the black 

 fluid with which it is always amply provided; and 

 thus obscures or darkens the water to a great disi 



