CHAPTER III: THE DEVIL-FISHES. OCTOPI 



Family OcTOPODioyE 



Head very large; arms eight, long, all alike, more or less 

 webbed; suckers usually in two rows ; mantle supported by 

 columns or bands of muscle. 



Genus OCTOPUS, d'Orb. 



Body much shorter than arms; suckers few, in two rows; 

 arms extensible, large, webbed at base; third right arm hecto- 

 cotylised; two cartilaginous stylets stiflFen the back of mantle. 



Octopus, Devil-fish. Polypus. (0. vulgaris, Lam.) 

 Marine, carnivorous mollusk, of great strength. Body globose 

 or pear-shaped, six inches to one foot long, with scattered horns 

 on back; arms smooth, sessile, uniform, fleshy, elastic, webbed 

 at base, three or four times as long as body ; suckers not stalked, 

 set in two rows on inner face of arm; neck short, small; head 

 large; eyes prominent, with horn above each; skin dusky, but 

 varies from purple to yellow and white; hectocotylised arm short, 

 broad, flat at tip, whitish, with one or two suckers abnormally 

 large ; eggs small, clustered on a central cord. Habits, nocturnal, 

 solitary, predatory, fighting when disturbed. Food, crustaceans, 

 bivalves and fishes. Used as food in Mediterranean countries. 



Habitat. — Rocky bottoms in shallow water. Temperate and 

 warm seas. 



This is the common octopus or devil-fish of Europe, known 

 as "Polypus" by the ancients, and accurately described by 

 Aristotle. It lives along rocky shores of moderate depths in trop- 

 ical and temperate oceans, making its home in some suitable 

 crevice hollowed out like a grotto, where it lies with arms and 

 web outspread ready to entrap any bivalve or fish that strays 

 within reach of the arms. The peculiar power of taking on a 

 colour to harmonise with the surroundings is well developed in 

 the octopus. Its body might well be mistaken for a part of the 



445 



