SEPIA. 



139 



Shell oblong (broadly lanceolate without the cartilaginous 

 fringe), white except on the back or outer side, which is 

 faintly tinted with fleshcolour ; it is hard and closely corru- 

 gated like sealskin on the back, where it is divided down the 

 middle by an indistinct ridge, which widens towards the front 

 and has a slight furrow on each side ; under or inner side soft, 

 raised in the centre, from which there is a gradual slope to- 

 wards the front, and excavated towards the other end, so as 

 to expose the successive layers of growth ; the surface of the 

 raised portion is microscopically fretted ; that of the excavated 

 portion is marked with a few slight and irregular longitudinal 

 lines, and is of a silvery and somewhat iridescent hue : cartila- 

 ginous fringe or margin glossy, narrow and nearly equal in 

 width in front and on each side, but gradually becoming wider 

 and expanding towards the other end, where it is very broad 

 and raised like a ledge : apophysis spike-shaped and short, 

 connected with the main fabric by a series of close- set fibrous 

 lines ; it is proportionally more prominent in young than in 

 adult specimens. L. 8-9. B. 3-4. 



Habitat : Aberdeenshire to Cornwall ; generally 

 distributed. Norway (Miiller and others) to the ^gean 

 (Forbes). 



Pierius, in his ^ Hieroglyphica/ gives the Sepia a bad 

 character, representing it as the symbol of lying, 

 wickedness, letters, the slippery love of woman, and 

 weather. Its pigment is said by Persius to have been 

 used as ink ; and its shell (the (ttjitiov of Aristotle) was 

 formerly in great vogue for medicinal and various other 

 purposes. When pounded it makes a tolerable denti- 

 frice ; and pieces are sometimes put into the cages of 

 singing-birds to sharpen their beaks. Cantraine states 

 that this cuttlefish was shot with arrows in the summer 

 at Messina. 



I have a shell of S. Filliouoci, Lafont., in Mr. Claris 

 Exmouth collection. It is proportionally shorter, and 

 broader (especially towards the base), than the shell of 

 S. officinalis, and is much flatter on the underside ; the 



