SUCKERS OF THE CALAMARY. 169 



to one another the tentacles are firmly locked together at that part, and the united strength of both 

 the elongated peduncles can be applied to drag towards the mouth any resisting object which Las 

 been grappled by the terminal hooks. There is no mechanical contrivance which surpasses this 

 structure. The obstetric forceps, invented by Sir J. Y. Simpson (in which either blade can be used 

 separately, or, by the interlocking of a temporary joint, be made to act in combina- 

 tion), is stated to have been suggested by these tentacular arms of the Calamary. [Owen.] 

 Specimens have been taken of this form varying in length from four inches to two feet. 

 Six species belonging to this genus have been described, which," like so many of its 

 congeners, have been met with in seas as broad as the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the 

 Indian Ocean. These uncinated or Clawed Calamaries are solitary animals, fre- 

 quenting the open sea, and especially the banks of floating gulf- weed in the " Sargasso 

 Sea." 0. banksii ranges from Norway to the Cape and Indian Ocean; the rest are, 

 confined to the warmer seas. 0. dussumieri has been taken when swimming in the 

 open sea 200 leagues north of the Mauritius. 



The Armed Calamary (Enoploteuthis*} approaches in size to that of the largest 

 Cephalopods, of which we shall presently speak. It is probably six feet in length (if 

 not larger) when adult ; but it seems doubtful whether there is any very exact limit 

 to the growth of some of these larger forms, if they happen to survive their infancy 

 and youth without coining to an untimely end. The pen in Enoploteuthis is lance- PEN. OF THE 

 shaped, but the feet, instead of being furnished with cups or suckers, have each a double CALAMAKY. 

 series of strongly-curved, horny hooks, concealed by retractile webs. The tentacles are 

 long and feeble, and evidently do not play an important part in the economy of the animal as in the 

 clawed Calamary. Banks and Solander, in Cook's first voyage, found the dead carcass of a gigantic 

 species of this kind floating in the sea between Cape Horn and the Polynesian Islands, in latitude 

 30 44' S., longitude 110 33' W. It was surrounded by aquatic birds, which were feeding on its 

 remains. From the parts of this specimen, which ai*e still preserved in the Hunterian Collection, and 

 which have always strongly excited the attention of naturalists, it must have measured at least six 

 feet from the end of the tail to the end of the tentacles. The natives of the Polynesian Islands, who 

 dive for shell-fish, have a well-founded dread and abhorrence of these formidable Cephalopods, and 

 one cannot feel surprised that their fears should have perhaps exaggerated the dimensions and 

 destructive attributes of those creatures. 



Ten species have been described belonging to this genus from the Mediterranean and the Pacific. 

 Fossil booklets arranged in rows, which, doubtless, belonged to a species of Etwploteuthis, a great, 

 great ancestor of the one brought home by Sir Joseph Banks, have been met with fossil in the Lias 

 formation of Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire, and are now preserved in the British Museum of Natural 

 History. 



The Sagittated Calamary (OmmastrepJies f) is a remarkably active member of a restless and 

 cosmopolitan race. The sailors call them " sea-arrows," or " flying Squids," from their habit of leaping 

 out of the water, often to such a height as to fall on the decks of vessels. Colonel Sykes records, 

 the fact that in returning from India, while the wind was light and the sea calm, several of 

 these ''flying Squids" leapt 011 board the vessel, falling upon the deck.^ The body of the Sagittated 

 Calamary is cylindrical, and has a large terminal rhombic fin. The feet have two rows of suckers^ 

 and sometimes an internal membranous fringe. The tentacles ai-e short and strong, and armed 

 with four rows of cupping suckers. The pen has a shaft with three diverging ribs and a hollow 

 conical extremity. They vary in length from one to four feet. Fourteen species of these 

 Sagittated Squids have been desci-ibed from the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. 

 They are all gregarious in their habits, and frequent the open sea in all climates. 



Gould gives the following interesting description of the Sagittated Calamary : " Their usual 

 mode of swimming is by dilating the water-breathing chamber of their sac-shaped body, and filling it 

 with water. The body is then suddenly contracted, and the water forcibly ejected, so as to propel them 

 backwards with great rapidity. So swift and straight is their progress that they look like arrows 



* Enoplos, Gr., armed. t Ommx, Gr., the eye, and strcpho, Gr., I turn. 



J Proceedings of the Zooloyical Society, 1833, p. 90, Plate 1. 

 212 



