SEPIOLA. 137 



fashion_, first laying hold with its arms^ turning over, 

 and laying hold again until it managed to get back into 

 the water/^ According to Mr. Gosse {' Zoologist '' for 

 1853), it burrows in the sand by blowing through its 

 funnel and using its arms with their sucking-disks to 

 remove small stones and gravel. He also saw it eject 

 several times in succession a jet of inky fluid; but 

 apparently not for the purpose of concealment, because 

 the matter did not diffuse itself in the water, but re- 

 mained in a coagulated state, and when moved with a 

 stick was drawn into slimy strings. I am informed by 

 Mr. Laughrin that some spawn which he hatched rose 

 to the surface as they came out, and continued there 

 for some time before they went to the bottom. This 

 reminds one of the observations of G. O. Sars as to the 

 fry of the codfish. Bouchard- Chantereaux has given 

 some particulars of the spawn of S. Rondeleti. It is 

 deposited towards the end of May and beginning of 

 June, in the form of a bluish gelatinous mass, in the 

 centre of which the eggs are arranged as if around an 

 axis. Each mass contains from 40 to 130 eggs. The 

 female produces from 15 to 36 spawn-masses; and 

 these are united at their base by an amorphous glutinous 

 stalk which is attached to submarine bodies. The fry is 

 hatched in from 22 to 25 days. Mr. Alder noticed 

 the instantaneous change of colour in newly hatched 

 individuals, " becoming red or white alternately several 

 times during the day'^; and Forbes mentions a Skye 

 specimen being always pale when put in a dark place. 



The '' calamaretto '' and " seppietta '^ of the Italians, 

 and one of the most esteemed ^^frutti di mare '' in the 

 Mediterranean and Adriatic. It is the Sejna sepiola of 

 Linne, and Sepiola vulgaris of Grant. The male is 

 Sepiola Atlantica of D^Orbigny. 



