THE CUTTLE TISH. 



Possessed of great adhesive power. 



sheath reaches only to the middle of the body. 

 They have eight tentacula, or arms, besides two 

 feelers, as they arc called, which are much longer 

 than the arms. Both the feelers and arms are 

 furnished with strong circular cups or suckers, 

 by means of which the animal seizes its prey, 

 and firmly attaches itself to rocks or other hard 

 substances. To do this it applies their surface, 

 extended and plain, to the surface of the body, 

 and then drawing them up in the centre by 

 muscles contrived for the purpose, a vacuum is 

 formed, and they adhere by the pressure of the 

 external air. The adhesive power is so great, 

 that it is more easy to tear off the arms than 

 separate them from the substance to which they 

 are fixed. If these arms happen by any chance 

 to be broken off, they are soon afterward re- 

 produced. The animals are also furnished with 

 a hard, strong, and horny mouth, resembling, 

 both in texture and substance, the beak of a 

 parrot ; with this they are enabled to break the 

 shells of limpets and other shelled animals, on 

 which they feed. In the back, under the skin, 

 there is a kind of bone composed of thin parallel 

 plates, one above another, and separated by little 

 columns arranged in quincunx order. This bone 

 is oval, thick toward the middle, and thin at the 

 circumference. It is extremely light, and gene- 

 rally elastic, and in the living animal transparent 

 like glass ; the surface, in some species, is marked 

 with longitudinal furrows. This bone, on account 



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