THE EYES OF THE CUTTLE. 177 



or unarmed foe. Poised near the surface of the water, like a hawk in the air, the Sepia moves 

 gently to and fro in its tank by graceful undulations of its lateral fins, an exquisite play of colour 

 occasionally taking place over its beautifully barred and mottled back. When thus tranquil, its 

 eight pedal arms are iisually brought close together, and droop in front of its head, like the trunk 

 of an elephant shortened, its two longer tentacular arms being coiled 

 up within the others and unseen. Only when some small fish is given 

 to it as food is its facility of rapid motion displayed. Then, quickly as a 

 Kingfisher darts upon a Minnow, it pounces on its prey, enfolds it in 

 its fatal embrace, and retii'es to a recess of its abode to tear it piece- 

 meal with its horny beak, and rend it into minutest shreds with its jagged 

 tongue. In shallow water, however, it will often rest for hours on the 

 bottom, after a hearty meal, looking much like a sleepy Tortoise. The 

 Cuttle-fishes are so voracious that fishermen regard them as unwelcome 

 visitors. Some localities on our own coast are occasionally so infested by 

 them that the drift netting has to be abandoned, in consequence of their 

 devouring the fish, or rendering them unsalable by tearing them with 

 their beaks as they hang in the meshes. 



" The Sepia seldom lives long in confinement. Although, like the BRANCHIA AND HEARTS OF 



COMMON CUTTLE. 



Calamaries, it often swims gently forward by the use of its fins, its a(Aprta . Ven a cava; ***, vesicai 

 usual mode of rapid progress is the same as that of the Octopus, namely, tftfon's oit Bra'nJ^ai^lfnJ; ,' B^n- 



, . . cbial hearts ; fcb, Brancbia; rr, Renal 



darting backwards by the ejection ot a stream ot water through the organs, 

 funnel. In a limited space like an aquarium tank there is not sufficient 



room for its rocket-like rush, and therefoi-e its hinder extremity so frequently comes in contact 

 with the rockwork that the skin is worn through until the edge of the internal shell, or 

 ' sepiostaire,' is visible, and death follows. The animal cannot see behind it, and so it often 

 happens that it similarly comes to grief in its natural habitat, especially in calm weather, when, as 

 Professor Edward Forbes says, ' not a ripple breaks upon the pebbles to warn it that the shore 

 is near. An enemy appears ; the creature ejects its ink, like a sharpshooter discharging his rifle 

 ere he retreats, and then, darting away tail foremost, under cover of the cloud, grounds itself high 

 upon the beach, and perishes there."'* 



It is somewhat remarkable that whilst the Octopus shuns the light, and retreats from that of the 

 lanthorn, the Cuttle and Squid are attracted by it. At Trincomalee, at certain seasons of the year, 

 the bay is illuminated dining the night by hundreds of lights of fishing-boats moving hither and 

 thither. A dead Cuttle is generally the bait used. This is suspended in the water, and when hauled 

 in from time to time one or more of its species are found fast to it, and feeding on their deceased 

 relative. When removed from the water they emit a peculiar " squelching " noise, which has been 

 compared to the grunting of a hog. It is caused by the forcing of air instead of water through the 

 siphon tube. 



" John Hotton (a fisherman of Polperro) says, that some time since he was at sea for the purpose 

 of catching Cuttles, when the night was so dark that, though Cuttles were in plenty, and followed the 

 bait to the surface, he could not see to hook them. He then desired his son to take a lanthorn, and 

 hold it close to the water, so that he might see, when, to his surprise, a great many Cuttles gathered 

 round the light, and without bait or hook he caught eighteen by hooking them with the rod (gaff). 

 Since then he has more than once put the same plan in practice, "f 



The crystalline lens of the eye, which is soft in quadrupeds and cartilaginous in fishes, is very 



solid in the Cephalopoda. It is almost calcareous, and very peculiar in form. It consists of two 



double concave portions, divided by a deep groove, in which are insei*ted the c ; liary processes. The 



two halves, which are almost globose at their outer surfaces, separate easily, and exhibit internally a 



series of concentric coats, which reflect with a beautiful nacreous opalescence and play of colours. In 



some parts of Italy, as in Genoa, the women on festival days use these lenses as beads for necklaces 



They were also used as ornaments by the ancient Peruvians, and several of a large size, which 



were found in the tombs, and in the eyes of mummies from Peru, are preserved in the Christy 



* Henry Lee : " Aquarium Notes." t From Jonathan Crouch's MS. " Diary," dated 1819. 



213 



