HABITS OF THE CEPHALOPODA, 6t 



not easily caught. By means of their long arms and suckers, 

 they could drag their bodies into very narrow crevices ; and 

 when thus fixed, it required great force to remove them. At 

 other times they darted tail first, with the rapidity of an arrow, 

 from one side of the pool to the other,' at the same instant dis- 

 coloring the water with a dark chestnut-brown ink. These 

 animals also escape detection by a very extraordinary, chameleon- 

 like power of changing their color. They appear to vary the 

 tints according to the nature of the ground over which they 

 pass; when in deep water, their general shade was brownish 

 purple, but when placed on the land, or in shallow water, this 

 dark tint changed into one of a yellowish green. The color, 

 examined more carefully, was a French gray, with numerous 

 minute spots of bright yellow ; the former of these varied in 

 intensity; the latter entirely disappeared and appeared again by 

 turns. These changes were effected in such a manner, that 

 clouds, varying in tint between a hyacinth-red and a chestnut- 

 brown, were continually passing over the body. Any part being- 

 subjected to a slight shock of galvanism, became almost black : 

 a similar effect, but in a less degree, was produced b}^ scratching 

 the skin with a needle. These clouds or blushes, as they may be 

 called, when examined under a glass, are described as being 

 produced by the alternate expansions and contractions of minute 

 vesicles, containing variously colored fluids. 



"This cuttle-fish displayed its chameleon-like power both 

 during the act of swimming and whilst remaining stationary at 

 the bottom. I was much amused by the various arts to escape 

 detection used by one individual, which seemed fully aware that 

 I was watching it. Remaining for a time motionless, it would 

 then stealthily advance an inch or two, like a cat after a mouse, 

 sometimes changing its color ; it thus proceeded, till, having 

 gained a deeper part, it darted away, leaving a dusky train of 

 ink to hide the hole into which it had crawled. 



" While looking for marine animals, with my head about two 

 feet above the rocky shore, I was more than once saluted by a 

 jet of water, accompanied by a slight grating noise. At first I 

 did not know what it was, but afterwards I found out that it 

 was the cuttle-fish, which, though concealed in a hole, thus often 

 led me to its discovery. That it possesses the power of ejecting 



