CUTTLE-FISH. 79 



CUTTLE-FISH. 



THERE are very few inhabitants of the ocean which 

 have so extensive a range of residence as the cuttle- 

 fish. In the Atlantic or Pacific he is equally at 

 home, and in the western end of the Mediterranean 

 he abounds. Wondrous stories are told of his 

 savage proclivities, and in a shop in China I saw a 

 picture in which one of this family was represented 

 embracing a junk (which, judging from the size of 

 the figures on board, must have been two or three 

 hundred tons), and quietly helping himself to 

 mariners, as appetite dictated. Why the Celestials 

 did not get under the hatches I was unable to 

 comprehend. That some of this species grow to 

 an immense size, there is no doubt, as the whale 

 is often found to contain dismembered arms and 

 other parts of this their favorite food, which must 

 originally have been component parts of monsters 

 of gigantic proportions. To their belligerent dispo- 

 sition I can attest, for well I remember seeing one 



