LECTURE X. 131 



tance round. This practice of the Cuttle-fish was 

 well known to the ancients. Our own celebrated 

 countryman, Mr. Ray, draws from this circum- 

 stance a singularly apposite and witty illustration ; 

 and observes that an obscure and prolix author 

 may not improperly be compared to a Cuttle-Fish, 

 since he may be said to hide himself under his 

 own ink ! The black liquor or ink of the Cuttle- 

 Fish, when collected, and dried, splits gr cracks 

 into fragments, which being then ground down, 

 and redissolved in water, form an exquisite Ink, 

 of the most durable blackness ; and the well-known 

 Chinese preparation, commonly called Indian-Ink, 

 is, in reality, supposed to be no other than the 

 concrete juice of the Cuttle-Fish, carefully managed, 

 perfumed, and at length formed into the orna- 

 mented cakes or masses in which we receive it. 

 I should here observe that all the species of the 

 genus Sepia are provided with a similar fluid, 

 which they use for similar 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 pre- 

 pared by the Chinese the brown and reddish-brown 

 varieties of Indian-Ink which are sometimes seen* 



