GO HABITS OF TlfK CK1MI A LopODA. 



do not bother themselves with spreading their nets for them; 

 they catch :i female, when the others immediately fall upon her, 

 grasp nnd enlace their arms. 'Phis elt'ori. of their love censes not 

 till the Ushers have raised them into their boat ; even then they 

 remain united." A somewhat similar aeeonnt is found in 

 Vcrany's work on the ( 1 ephalopods of the Mediterranean, where 

 it is possibly derived from the verses of Oppiaii. 



The deposition of the eggs occurs some days afier fecundation. 

 I have been a witness to i he deposition of i hree or four eggs, but 

 1 was not able to distinguish ; he mei hod of t he opera, ion. A 

 female laid about one hundred eggs, about fifty in a cornel' of the 

 aquarium, and fifty oil the opposite side. These eggs were 

 enrolled by their peduncles around the long leaves of Zo^lci-a 

 marina. The larger part of the eggs were laid in the nighi. for 

 I remarked them in the morning for the first time; they were 

 already black. 



When the Sepia is laying, she embraces the leaf of /ostera 

 with her tentacles, and a few instants afterwards the egg is 

 attached. The female removed herself bill liiile from her eggs. 

 but she appeared to me to be sick, exhausted ; she died three 



days after having commenced oviposition, and only a few hours 



after having attached her las; eggs. 1 do not know whe;hcr ihe 

 death of the animal is attributable lo pan nrii ion ; but on 1 .his 

 hypothesis I cannot help thinking of Oppian's recital of ihe deal h 

 of the Poulpe: "The fatal marriage of the Poulpe and iis cruel 

 death rapidly Succeed each other. No sooner does he quit the 

 female, ihan he falls exhausted on the sands. The female dies 

 also from the pain of ihe Laborious efforts of part nri; ion." A ris- 

 totle also says: "The Sepia lays her eggs near the can h. among 

 the a lira-. She only lays them al several efforts, as though the 

 operation is painful to her." 



I opened the female which died during parturition, and found 

 the ovary filled with a considerable quantity of eggs in all slaves 

 of development ; the most advanced were already furnished with 

 a white and opaque covering, but none of them were black like 

 tho-c a i '.ached to the Xosteras. The black color, then, is 

 acquired tit the moment of deposition, and it is probably due io 

 a secretion of the gland* which surround the oviduci. The 

 coloration of the eggs has not escaped the observation of 



