BOOK IX.] History of Nature. 143 



Males of the Sepia kind are mottled, and blacker, as well as 

 more firm, than the Female. If the Female be smitten with 

 a Trident, they will help her ; but if the Male be struck, she 

 flies. But both of them, when they perceive that they are 

 laid hold of, throw out a Quantity of Ink, which is in the 

 Place of Blood to them ; and when the Water is obscured 

 with it they hide themselves by means of it. 



Of Polypi there are many Kinds. They that keep near 

 the Shore are bigger than those that haunt the Deep. All 

 of them employ their Arms in the manner of Feet and 

 Hands ; but the Tail, which is sharp and two-forked, serveth 

 them in their Coupling. The Polypi have a Pipe in their 

 Back, by which they throw out the Sea : and it they can 

 shift, one while to the right Side, and another to the left. 

 They swim obliquely on their Head, which is very hard by 

 being blown up while they are alive. Moreover, by hollow 

 Concavities, arranged along their Arms, they will adhere, as 

 it were by sucking, to any Thing ; which they hold so fast 

 (lying upward with their Bellies) that they cannot be 

 plucked from it. They never fasten on the Bottom; and 

 the greater they are, the less strong they are to hold any 

 Thing. Of all soft (Fishes) they alone go out of the Water to 

 dry Land, at least into some rough Place; for they cannot 

 abide those that are smooth. They devour the Flesh of Shell- 

 fishes, the Shells of which they break by the Compression of 

 their Tendrils ; and therefore the Place where they lie may 

 be detected by the Number of Shells that lie before their 

 Place. And though in other Respects it may be regarded as 

 a very senseless Creature, so that it will swim to a Man's 

 Hand, yet in what concerns its Family Affairs it possesses 

 Understanding: for all they can take they carry to their 

 Home ; and when they have eaten the Meat of the Tishes 

 they throw away the empty Shells, and watch to catch the 

 little Fishes that approach them. They change their Colour 

 to that of the Place where they are, and especially when 

 under the Influence of Fear. That they gnaw their own 

 Arms is a great Error; for they owe this Injury to the Con- 

 gers : but it is scarcely false that they will grow again, like 



