48o 



THE OCEAN WORLD. 



expanding ends, and stalked suckers (Fig. 323) ; eyes moving in their 

 sockets, and in Sepia the body is broadly ovate. 



The body of the cuttle-fish {Sepia, Fig. 324), is a very singular 

 structure, somewhat reminding us of certain species of polyps. We 

 find a body or abdominal mass, separated by compression from the 

 head, which is sufficiently marked. The body is covered by the 

 mantle, which has the form of a sac opened only in front by a trans- 

 verse cleft. The head has a projecting and well-developed eye on 



Fig. 323. 



Sepia tuberculosa (Lamarck), 



arm of. 



Fig. 324. 

 Sepia officinalis (Linnaeus.) 



Fig- 325- 



Internal shell of Sepia 



officinalis. 



each side ; it is crowned by a sort of fleshy receptacle, which is 

 surrounded by four or five pairs of tentacles. At the bottom of this 

 receptacle is the mouth ; and from the anterior opening in the 

 mantle the funnel issues, which is wide at its base. 



The body is also bordered on all its length on both sides with a 

 wing or narrow fin ; it is broader than it is long, with two large eyes, 

 covered by an expansion of the skin, which becomes transparent over 

 a surface equal to the diameter of the iris, and furnished with inferior 

 contractile eyelids. 



The skin of the cuttle-fish contains in one vast hollow, occupying 

 all the extent of the back, a great calcareous shell, the form and 



