180 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



and it will learn to know you are a friend ; but the youngsters are as shy as human baHes, and 

 regard every one but their mother as an enemy."* 



The preference for the light, described by Mr. Henry Lee, as exhibited by the young Octopus, appears 

 to be common also to the young Squid and Cuttle-fish. The latter generally seek the surface of the water ; 



sometimes swimming gently by 

 means of the locomotor-tube 

 and the undulating movement 

 of the marginal fins, and at 

 others poising their bodies mo- 

 tionless, as if basking. The 

 habit in these two families is 

 not so surprising as it is in 

 the Octopus, because the adult 

 Sepia and Loligo are not cave- 

 dwellers, but frequent tlie open 

 sea, and often approach the 

 surface. 



The internal shell (sepi- 

 ostaire), incorrectly called the 

 " ciittle-boiie " of the Sepia 

 (sometimes also called " sea- 

 biscuit," from its shape, and its 

 being frequently found floating 

 on the surface of the water), is 

 used, when pounded, as polish- 

 ing powder by jewellers, and, 

 under the name of "pounce," to 

 smooth writing-paper where an 

 erasure has been made with a 



penknife. Known as " white coral powder," it used to be regarded as the very best dentifrice, and 

 was formerly prescribed in medicine as an antacid and absorbent. 



The Roman ladies employed it, burned and pulverised, as a cosmetic for the face ; and it was, 110 

 doubt, a good substitute for the " pearl powder" now in fashion. Broken pieces of it are also occasion- 

 ally placed between the wires of the cages of song-birds for them to peck at, instead of chalk or other 

 calcareous substances. 



Ten species of Sepia have been established on the fossil remains of " Cuttle-bones " from the 

 Solenhofen limestone. Some of these sepiostaires, or " bones," attained a length of two 

 feet. 



Several species have also been founded on the mucro (or sharp point or extremity) 

 of fossil shells of Sepia, found in the Eocene Tertiary formation of the London and Paris 

 basins. One species (Sepia ungula) occurs fossil in Texas. 



Referring to the use of these animals by the Greeks as an article of food, Pro- 

 fessor Edward Forbes writes : "The traveller who, when treading the shores of the coasts 

 and islands of the -<3Cgean, observes as he can scarcely fail to do the innumerable 

 remains of the hard parts of Cuttle-fishes piled literally in heaps along the sands, or, 

 when watching the Greek fishermen draw their nets, marks the number of these 

 creatures mixed up with the abundance of true fishes taken and equally prized as articles 

 of food by the captors, can at once understand why the naturalists of ancient Greece 

 should have treated so fully of the history of the Cephalopoda, and its poets have made 

 allusions to them as familiar objects. One of the most striking spectacles at night on 

 the coasts of the ^Egean is to see the numerous torches glancing along the shores, and reflected by the 

 still and clear sea, borne by poor fishermen paddling as silently as possible over the rocky shallows 



* Henry Lee : "Aquarium Notes." 



EGGS OF THE COMMON CUTTLE-FISH. 



INTERNAL SHELL 

 F THE SEPIA. 



