344 SEA MONSTERS UNMASKED. 



tacles, presently to be launched forth ; and then, in a 

 moment so instantaneously that the eye of an observer, 

 be he ever so watchful, can hardly see the act this pair 

 of tentacles, side by side, are projected and withdrawn, as 

 if in a flash. The fish, or shrimp, has vanished, the suckers 

 of the dilated ends of the tentacles having adhered to it, 

 and left it, as they re-entered their pouches, within the fatal 

 "cuddle," or embrace, where it is torn to pieces by the 

 devouring beak.* This action of the tentacles of the 

 decapods is the most rapid motion that I know of in the 

 whole animal kingdom not excepting even that of the 

 tongue of the toad and the lizard. These long tentacles 

 are not used when the food is within 'reach of the shorter 

 arms. 



The calamaries, or squids, of our British seas seize their 

 prey in the same manner as Sepia, and the description of one 

 will suffice for both. But there exist two groups of them, 

 which are armed with curved and sharp-pointed hooks or 

 claws, either in addition to, or instead of suckers. In the 

 one group (Onychoteuthis], the hooks are restricted to the 

 extremities of the pair of tentacles, in the other (Enoploteu- 

 this), both the tentacles and the shorter arms have hooks. 

 Professor Owen, in his description of these hook-armed 

 calamaries in the Cyclopedia of A natomy, notices also 

 another structure which adds greatly to their prehensile 



* See an excellent article in the Field, Sept. 2, 1876, on the ' Ten 

 Footed Cuttle ' (Sepia officinalis), by the late Mr. W. A. Lloyd, an 

 earnest and accomplished aquatic zoologist ; eccentric, but in all that 

 relates to the construction and management of an aquarium a master 

 of his craft. It was his wish that in any future edition of my little 

 book on the Octopus, or other writings on the cephalopods, I should 

 use the woodcuts which illustrated his articles on Sepia and Octopus. 

 By the kind permission of the proprietors of the Field, I reproduce 

 them in suitable size for these pages. 



