550 the cuttle-fish tribe. 



arms happen by any chance to be broken off they are 

 soon afterward reproduced. The animals are also 

 furnished with a hard strong and horny mouth, re- 

 sembling, both in texture and substance, the beak 

 of a parrot. With this they are enabled to break 

 the shells of Limpets, and other shelled animals, on 

 which they feed. In the back, under the skin, there 

 is a kind of bone composed of thin parallel plates, 

 one above another, and separated by little columns 

 arranged in quincunx order. This bone is oval, thick 

 toward the middle, and thin at the circumference. 

 It is extremely light, and generally elastic, and in 

 the living animal transparent like glass : the surface, 

 in some species, is marked with longitudinal furrows. 

 When dried and pulverised, the bone of the Officinal 

 Cuttle-fish is employed by silversmiths for moulds, 

 in which they cast their small work, as spoons, rings, 

 &c, It is also converted into that useful article ot 

 stationary called pounce. This bone, on account 

 of its lightness, is sometimes called sea-foam, or sea- 

 biscuit. 



In the belly of the Cuttle-fish there is a vessel that 

 contains a quantity of dark or inky fluid, which the 

 animal emits, on contraction, when alarmed. This 

 not only tinges the water so as to conceal its retreat, 

 but is at the same time so bitter as immediately to 

 drive off its enemies. 



TV endangpr'd Cuttle thus evades his fears, 

 And native hoards of fluid safely hears. 

 A pitch}- ink peculiar glands supply, 

 Whose shades the sharpest beam of light defy. 



