I \TI.'\. 



O f ., ftne red color,and rhombohedral or rhomboido-lamellar in 



1'iinii. LMxiii'j. the iv.-ielions !' uric acid. 



TIM- ink I..-.- (not present in Nautilus) is a tough mid lii.i- 



. the outer coat of which i- thin and the oont 



.,,,. ,i ,1 i,y a duct din-et (or,as in mo>t decapods, throi 



;the auus) into tin- mantle opening, and thence diffused in tl..- 

 mi-roofing water: covering the movements of the animal i.y tin- 

 uritj in which it i.ecomes : dimt instantly enveloped. There 

 ,.., benodoubt of the use of thisor--an in facilitating escape 

 tVnin danger. The ink itself was formerly used i.y the Chin 



in the preparation of Sepia or India [nk, but this SODStanC 



now made from lampMack. In Italy and in Turkey the Sepi.-i IS 

 still prepared from the dried pigment, of t he cut t le-li>h. which 

 is hrowned I.Y the action of an alk:di. ; So indent ructil.le is the 



ink, that it i> fre<,uently met with preserved with the fo^il 

 remainsof r.elemnites and otherextinct genera; The full protec 

 tion allorded the soil j.arts 1,\ t he external shell of the!. 

 hranchi:it"> accounts for the absence of the ink-l, : io- in thai 

 division of the cephalopoda. 



An analysis of Sepia shows that 7* per centum is composed of 

 thi- Mack coloring matter (the Mehmia of Kisio). and thnt of the 

 residuum there is in per centum carbonate oflime. T per centum 



carbonate of magnesia, and sulphate and chloride of soda -2 per 



centum. 



Mr. Lloyd stato.' in his interest inir " Handbook to the Marine 

 Aquarium." "that the ink ( which is viscid) does not generally 



become ditfused through the water as writing-ink would i.e. hut 

 iispended in the water in a kind of compact cloud till it -rad- 

 ,, : ,lly settles down, and is <lispersed in flakes." Now I quite 

 think, with Mr. Lloyd. tl.Mt this being the case, it is difficult to 

 perceive how, according to the generally received opinion, the 

 re trea1 of the anim:d is covered \>\ the ejected cloud, h seems 



to me more likely that this dischar-e is to divert the attention of 

 ., pursuer. : dog-fish for instance which would for the moment 



The method of pn^ii-in- St M ,i; practised on tiie riiores of il.- V 



:1 .|ullv extract the ink-bag and <!> Mcontx 



un.trd with caustic Bodi or potash, it is afterwards boiled for halt an 

 hour with caustic lye, and finally the liquid is treated uith "J acid until 

 neutralized, \fterst8nding, ;. precipitate falls, which is csollected :ml 



,1,-i.Ml !,> a mil. I heat, an.l tnniis the S.'i-ia | eOBBC 



