OF CREATION. 193 



order to secure firm hold when the Belemnite was 

 about to seize its prey. 



The head was provided with very large eyes ; the 

 jaws were probably horny ; and, besides the eight 

 arms, there seems to have been one pair of long tenta- 

 cles. Far down below the head, and within the 

 cavity of the shell, there was placed an oval sac 

 containing black fluid, communicating by a tube with 

 the aperture. This fluid exactly resembles the ink of 

 the common squid ; and there can be no doubt that it 

 was used by the animal in the same way, and for the 

 same purpose, namely, to darken the water when its 

 possessor, becoming alarmed, desired to escape. The 

 ink itself in a solid state, the bag which contained it, and 

 the tube or pen by which it was shot out into the water, 

 are all preserved in some of the specimens of this fossil. 



The mantle of the belemnite, passing over the' 

 guard or shell, seems to have accommodated it- 

 self to the shape of the shell, and terminated in a 

 blunt point. Two fins, however, of a rounded form, 

 and of considerable size, extended on each side near 

 the middle of the animal. From this position of the 

 fins, from the shape of the shell, and from its general 

 structure, it has been concluded that the animal com- 

 monly remained in a vertical position, rising and 

 sinking with great facility, and possessing very un- 

 usual powers of locomotion and destruction. 



The larger belemnites, as well as the ammonites 

 of this period, must have attained very gigantic 

 dimensions compared with their subsequent or previ- 

 ous size, and compared with the ordinary inhabitants 

 of the sea. Few fishes, perhaps, could have escaped 

 them except the larger sharks ; and even the young 



K 



