SEPIA. 



of tints to play over the body of the animal, something like the flickering of a lambent 

 flame. The changes of colour thus produced are quite wonderful. "Although com- 

 mon," says Mr. Darwin, "in the pools of water left by the returning tide, these animals 

 are not easily caught. By means of their long arms and suckers they can drag their 

 bodies into very narrow crevices, and when thus fixed, it requires great force to remove 

 them. At other times they dart, tail first, with the rapidity of an arrow, from one side 

 of the pool to the other, at the same instant discolouring the water with a dark chestnut- 

 brown ink." 



The shell of the cuttle-fish, or "Cuttle-bone" as it is generally called (Fig. 240), is a 



FlG. 240. CUTTLE-SIIELL. 



FlG. 241. CUTTLE-FISH AND EGGS. 



very curious structure. During life it is enclosed in a cavity of the mantle, wherein it 

 lies quite loose and unattached : it is of an oval shape, and so light and buoyant as to 

 constitute a most elegant float, that doubtless materially facilitates the movements of 

 this otherwise unwieldy animal. 



Like all the other naked Cephalopods, the cuttle is remarkable for the power of eject- 

 ing, in large quantities, a black and inky fluid ; this is contained in a bag, variously 

 situated in different species, and can be spouted out at the will of the animal in surpris- 

 ing abundance, diffusing an impenetrable opacity that extends to a distance of many feet. 

 Under the concealment thus obtained, the cuttle-fish darts away from his foes, like one 

 of Homer s heroes, protected by the interposition of a favouring cloud. This ink, dried 

 and prepared, is the "sepia" employed by artists. 



The eggs of the Sepia are frequently seen on the sea-beach. They bear no small re- 

 semblance to a bunch of grapes, being accumulated in clusters, adhering to each other 

 by slender footstalks ; they are, moreover, very nearly of the size and colour of that 

 fruit (Fig. 241). 



About the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean, the common Sepia officinalis is so 

 abundant that the cuttle-bones may be seen heaped by the waves into a ridge that 

 fringes the coast for miles. "As in ancient times," says Professor Forbes, "these 

 Mollusks still constitute a valuable part of the food of the poor, by whom they are 

 mostly used. One of the most striking spectacles at night, on the coast of the yEgean, 

 is to see the numerous torches glancing along the shores, and reflected by the still and 



