116 MANUAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



far the most highly organized and intelligent of the 

 Molluscous tribes. Their head is separate from the 

 body, their eyes are large and complex, their ears 

 are developed, and they even possess the rudiments 

 of an endo-skeleton. They are varied in their habits 

 and mode of life, but all agree in being carnivorous 

 and raptorial, preying on Crustacea and other small 

 animals, which they seize with their long and mus- 

 cular arms, secure near their mouth by innumerable 

 suckers, and tear in pieces with their horny mandi- 

 bles. The Octopi frequent the shores, and when 

 molested escape from the pursuit of their enemies by 

 ejecting a coloured fluid from their ink-bag, which 

 obscures the water around them ; crabs and lobsters 

 constitute their favourite food. The Argonauts are 

 oceanic in their habits, frequenting the high seas, 

 swimming rapidly backwards by ejecting the water 

 through their funnel, while their upper expanded 

 arms firmly embrace the sides of their shell, recent 

 observation having effectually dispelled the poetic 

 notion so long entertained of their sailing along the 

 surface. Some, like the Ommastrephes or Flying 

 Squids, have the power of leaping out of the water, 

 so as sometimes to fall upon the decks of vessels ; 

 others, like the Pelagian Cuttles (Philonexidce), in- 

 habit the solitudes of the ocean, assembling together 

 in large shoals, so as even sometimes to discolour 

 the water, and preying in the night upon the small 

 fishes and floating Medusce that swarm in the upper 

 regions of the ocean. 



That somewhat apocryphal Cephalopodic monster, 



