314 



FISHES, AND MOLLUSCS. 



direction, and with a force which has caused their 

 long and slender jaws to penetrate the planks of a 

 boat." 



FLYING CUTTLES. 



Perhaps the reader may have seen the Cuttles 

 which at one time caused such a sensation at the 

 aquarium at the Crystal Palace, and the discussion 

 which arose in the journals as to the right pronunci- 

 ation of the name " octopus." They may not be 

 aware that some of these molluscs have the power 

 of leaving the water and darting through the air ; 

 and that they can skim as far as can the flying fish 

 itself. 



As far as the semi-aerial part of its life goes, the 

 Flying Cuttle has many points in common with those 

 fishes. It is gregarious, not only in the sea, but when 

 it takes its leaps into the air, at which times great flocks 

 of them come flying out all at once. As is the case 

 with the fish, this simultaneous flight is mostly caused 

 by attacks of a marine foe, mostly the albacore, which 

 is also one of the enemies of the flying fish. Like the 

 various fishes that are able to rise into the air, includ- 

 ing the gurnards, the Flying Cuttles have their foes 

 of air as well as those of water ; and, while flying from 

 the attack of the albacore below, are snapped up by 

 the various sea birds which hover above. 



These flying molluscs belong to a group which are 

 popularly called Squids, and which, as a rule, are 

 about as large as the flying fish. Sometimes, however, 

 they reach to an enormous size, as has been casually 



