208 MOLLUSCA. 



the whole palace seemed to be on fire."* It infests 

 the coasts of Europe, destroying an immense number 

 of fishes and crustaceans, and is said even to have 

 drowned persons bathing, by entwining them in its 

 foul embrace. Its flesh is occasionally used as hu- 

 man food, but is so hard and tough, that it has to 

 be well pounded to render it tolerably digestible. 

 It has been rather vaguely asserted, that some species 

 of this genus attain a very vast size in the Indian 

 seas, and are able to swamp a boat, by throwing over 

 it their immense arms ; but these reports have not 

 as yet been confirmed by the observation of any 

 modern naturalist. 



Loligo,* the Calamary. 



This genus differs materially in form and structure 

 from the last. The eight arms are more cylindrical 

 in form, and have their cup-shaped suckers raised on 

 short foot stalks ; and besides these, there is an addi- 

 tional pair, of vastly superior length, but very slender, 

 furnished with suckers only near the tips, where they 

 are dilated into long, flat, feather-shaped disks ; these 

 longer tentacles are sometimes, for distinction, termed 

 the feet, and are said to be employed as cables, by 

 which the animal rides securely, fast to the rocks in 

 a tempestuous sea. The body is adapted for swim- 

 ming, by being possessed of two broad fins on each 

 side of the lower part of the sac : the general form 



* " Ut totum palatium ardere videretur." 

 f Its ancient Latin name. 



