3708 The Zoologist — October, 1873. 



whenever seen. But an acquaintance with the pretty Sepiola vulgaris has 

 not a little modified these ideas ; and its beauty, sprightliuess, and curious 

 habits have made it quite a favourite pet among the denizens of my 

 Aquarium. I take it in considerable numbers in this Bay, by means of 

 the keer-drag already described, which rakes the bottom. It is a little 

 creature, rarely exceeding an inch in length ; though the extensibility of 

 the arms somewhat varies its dimensions. When we turn out two or three 

 from the net into a pail of sea water, they are at first restless and active. 

 They shoot hither and thither, as if by a direct effort of will, but in reality 

 by the impulse of rapid and forcible jets of water directed towards various 

 points from the mouth of the flexible funnel situated beneath the body. 

 After a few moments they suspend themselves in mid-water, hovering for 

 many seconds in the same spot, scarcely moving a hair's breadth either way, 

 but waving their large circular swimming-fins rapidly and regularly up and 

 down, just like the wings of an insect. Indeed, the resemblance of the httle 

 Cephalopod, in these circumstances, to a brown moth hovering over a flower, 

 is most close and striking, and cannot fail to suggest an interesting com- 

 parison. The body is held in a horizontal position, the large protuberant 

 eyes gazing on either side ; and the arms, grouped together into a thick 

 bundle, hang freely downwards. If you essay to count these organs you 

 find only eight ; and even if you are aware that one of the characters of the 

 genus is to have ten, of which two are much longer than the rest, j'ou may 

 search for these latter a long time in vain. Of course I mean during the 

 life and the health of the animal, when its impatience of being handled 

 presents obstacles to a very accurate investigation ; you may then turn it 

 over and over with a stick, and look at the bundle of arms from above and 

 below in turn, now grouped together, and now thrown all abroad in anger 

 at being teased ; still you can make out but eight. It was not until after 

 many trials that T at length caught a peep at the missing organs — the pair 

 of long arms — and discovered that it is the animal's habit to carry them 

 closely coiled up into little balls, and packed down upon the mouth at the 

 bottom of the oral cavity. If we manage to insert the point of a pin in the 

 coil, and stretch out the spiral filament, the little creature impatiently 

 snatches it away and in a twinkling rolls it up again. 



" A zealous votary of the circular system would seize on this analogy 

 with the spirally folded tongue of a moth, and triumphantly adduce it as 

 additional proof that the Cephalopoda represent, in the Mollusca circle, the 

 Lepidoptera among insects. While thus hovering motionless in the water, 

 the Sepiola presents a fair opportunity for observing its curious transitions 

 of colour, which are great and sudden. We can scarcely assign any hue 

 proper to it. Now it is nearly white or pellucid, with a faint band of brown 

 specks along the back, through Mhich the internal viscera glisten like silver. 

 In an instant the specks become spots, that come and go, and change their 



