niio 



MOLLUSCA. 



Iicnro popularized into calamanj. Tliey are also sometimes called Sleeve-Fish, from tlieir resem- 

 Manco in shape to the sleeve of a coat. These animals have an elontrated form, with broad fins at 

 the apex of the Ixxly. They arc exeeedinirly active, and are common in the Atlantic, as well as 

 other se;i.s. They are of various brilliant colors, vivid red, deep blue, violet, brown, and orange, 

 and these tints are constantly changing at the will of the animal. 



IC 



THE COMMOK CAXAMAKT AND PEN. 





THE SEPIOLA. 



1 - / 



The Pex-Fish or Common Calamart, L. vulgaris, is the best-known species of the genus : 

 the body is somewhat pellucid, of a greenish hue, changeable to dirty brown ; the eyes are large 

 and lustrous, of an emerald green, phosphoric and fiery in a high degree. It is common in the 

 European seas, and was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans. It is distinguished as a 

 species by the fins forming a lozenge at the extremity of the sac. It is a very prolific animal, 

 and the eggs are of a very singular and curious appearance: they are deposited in the form of 

 numerous leng-thened groups, radiating from a common center, and spreading every way into a 

 circular form; each egg is of a glassy transparency, and the young animal may be very distinctly 

 observed in each, many days before the period of exclusion. These groups of the eggs of the 

 calamary are often seen swimming on the surface, and are occasionally thrown on shore ; the 

 whole group sometimes measures more than a foot in diameter, and from its general appearance, 

 unless closely inspected, is often mistaken for a species of medusa or sea-blubber. These clusters 

 are found to contain thirty to forty thousand eggs each. The pen-fish is a good swimmer, and 

 crawls head downward on its oval disk. Shells, and sometimes sea-weed, have been found in its 

 stomach. 



The Lolifjo jmnctata is four to six inches long, and like the rest of the family, has ten arms ; 

 the body is cylindrical and tapering, and about three inches in length, being covered with reddish 

 rounded spots of various sizes. The usual mode of progression is by dilating the body and filling 

 it with water ; it is then suddenly contracted, and the water forcibly ejected, so as to propel the 



animal backward with great rapidity, 

 shootino- like an arrow through the water. 

 It feeds greedily on small shell- fish and 

 crabs, of which it devours great num- 

 bers. This species is very common on 

 our coasts. Lesueur notices six other 

 species from Massachusetts to South 

 Carolina. One of these, the L. brevipinna, is a small species, the body three to four inches long, 

 beak prominent and horny ; the long arms slender, and terminating in a point. 



Genus SEPIOLA : Sepiola. — Of this there are several species in the Atlantic, Indian, and 

 Pacific Oceans. They are two to four inches long. 



THE LOLIGO BliEVIPINNA. 



