ELEDONE. 147 



brown to a dull greyish-whitC;, frequently clouded or 

 spotted with different shades, are made with remarkable 

 velocity,, and without any obvious cause. -^ -^ -^ ^ It 

 moves quickly, and always retrograde, playing its arms in 

 a regulated graceftil manner, which no one can contem- 

 plate without wonder in a body so grotesque and appa- 

 rently so inapt for locomotion. When it swims, the 

 arms are all drawn together and lanced straight out 

 from the head in a column, the body being thus by suc- 

 cessive strokes driven backwards/^ (Johnston, in Proc. 

 Berw. N. H. Club, i. p. 198.) This graphic description 

 of its appearance and habits will serve for all the family. 



The specific name appears to have originated in the 

 arms being curled. It is the Sepia octopodia of Pen- 

 nant (but not of Linne), Octopus ventricosus of Grant, 

 and E. Pennantii of Forbes ; E. Aldrovandi of Macgil- 

 livray (not of Delle Chiaje) is probably the male. 



The only exotic species of this group which has been 

 observed in our seas is the Spirula australis of Bru- 

 guiere or S. Peronii of Lamarck. Empty shells have 

 been found on nearly every part of the British coasts, 

 from Shetland to the Land^s End, as well as in the 

 Faroe Isles and in the north-west of France, and at 

 Gibraltar, Malaga, Algiers, the Canaries, Azores, and 

 Nantucket. Its home is the Caribbean Sea and more 

 southern latitudes, whence the Gulf-stream or Equa- 

 torial current transports this with other floating inter- 

 tropical products to the Bay of Biscay ; and from that 

 point they are drifted northwards by the prevalent 

 winds. 



h2 



