78 Part second. 



black, pear-shaped eggs and fixes them singly to corals and algse, usually 

 close together , so that they form large grape-like clusters (often visible 

 in tank Nr. 19). As soon as the young are hatched they show their pro- 

 ficiency in changing their colouring and emitting the sepia. 



The Cuttlefish is an important article of commerce: its flesh is eaten, 

 the cuttle-bone is used for polishing wood and as tooth-powder, and the 

 ink commands a high price. 



The Calmar or Squid (LoligO vulgaris, Fig. 15), very common in 

 winter , is unfortunately too delicate for the Aquarium. Like a swarm 

 of birds, slowly beating their fins, these transparent animals swim back- 

 wards and forwards, without turning round, until they die; usually only 

 a few days after their capture. The slightest disturbance puts them in 

 a state of great alarm and causes their milk-white bodies to show the 

 most lovely red tints. They can be fed with small shrimps and will be 

 seen to use their long arms like the cuttlefish. Their flesh is eaten very 

 generally; the pen -corresponding to the cuttle-bone is translucent, 

 flexible and shaped like a feather. Like Sepia they secrete ink ; hence 

 the Italian name of calamajo (ink-pot). 



It is certain that the Cephalopoda can attain enormous dimensions, 

 and from occasional specimens have probably arisen the legends of the 

 Kraken, if not of the sea-serpent. Thus Pliny relates a story of an animal 

 of this kind, which came at night to the fish-tanks of Carteja, and fright- 

 ened the dogs away by its snorting and its terrible arms. The head 

 which was shown to Lucullus, was as large as a barrel , and its arms 

 were so thick, that a man could scarcely clasp them and measured 30 

 feet in length. Monfort tells of an Octopus that tore a couple of sailors 

 from the rigging of a ship near St. Helena; the end of one of its arms, 

 caught in the tackle, was hewn of and measured 25 feet. On the coast 

 of Newfoundland in 1875 an extraordinary number of such gigantic 

 animals were found either dead or dying on the surface of the sea. 

 On the average they must each have weighed half a tori; their long arms 

 reached a length of 40 feet. On the coasts of Alaska, Japan, New-Zealand 

 and on the Pacific island of St. Paul similar monsters have been obser- 

 ved; also remains of them have been found in the stomach of the Ca- 

 chalot, which proves that there are fierful struggles between these sea- 

 monsters. 



Like the Cephalopods, the Gastropods (Snails and Slugs) have a head 

 distinctly marked off from the body; it is devoid cf arms, but there is 

 present a so-called foot, i. e. a portion of the body is flattened out like 

 the sole of a foot and is used for crawling, which is generally the only 

 means of locomotion possessed by the Snaiis. In many kinds the viscera 

 are contained in a spirally coiled, calcareous shell , the snail-shell , into 

 which the rest of the body can be retracted. The shell is secreted by 

 the mantle, a flap of the skin , and is held on the animal by means of 

 a spiral muscle. The foot frequently carries a horny or calcareous lid, 

 which closes the mouth of the shell when the body of the animal is 



