142 History of Nature. [BooK IX. 



(Sea Dragon) if caught and let loose upon the Sand, digs 

 for himself an Excavation with his Snout, with wonderful 

 Celerity. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

 Of Fishes destitute of Blood. 



SOME Fishes are without Blood : 1 of which we will now 

 speak. Of them there are three Sorts. First, those which 

 are called Soft : secondly, such as are covered with thin 

 Crusts : and in the last Place, they that are enclosed within 

 hard Shells. The soft are reckoned the Loligo, Sepia, Poly- 

 pus, and the rest of that Sort. These have their Head between 

 their Feet and the Belly, and every one of them has eight 

 Feet. The Sepia and Loligo have each two Feet, very long 

 and rough ; by which they convey Meat to their Mouths : 

 and also stay themselves as with an Anchor against the 

 Waves. The rest of their Feet are Tendrils, with which they 

 catch their Prey. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 2 

 Of the Loligo, 3 Sepia, 4 * Polypus, 5 and Nautilus? 



ALSO the Loligo flies, springing out of the Water as if 

 he were an Arrow ; and even Pectunculi do the same. The 



1 Not without a circulating fluid, but destitute of red blood. Wern. 

 Club. 



2 The Mollusks mentioned in this chapter are : Loligo : Sepia Loligo. 

 LiNN. Wern. Club. 



3 Loligo vulgaris. Cuv., and perhaps, also, L. media. Common 

 Cuttle. Wern. Club. 



4 Sepia officinalis. LINN, and Cuv. Bone Cuttle. Wern. Club. 



5 Septa octopodia. LINN. Eledone vulgaris. Cuv. See B. xxxii. 

 c. 2. Wern. Club. 



6 Argonauta Argo. LINN. The story of hoisting its membranous 

 sails to the wind is found to be an error : the use of these parts being to 

 clasp the sides of the shell as it swims. It was the Polypus chiefly that 

 was so highly prized as food by the Greeks, but it was necessary to bruise 

 it well before it was cooked. The Loligo was also employed in the same 

 manner ; as it is at this day. Wern. Club. 



