THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



113 



neet up various muscles, for it is iutei'- 

 nal, not external like a periwinkle's shell. 

 It is like the beginning- of an internal 

 skeJeton, whereas the shells of the ani- 

 mals I have described are external skele- 

 tons, not merely houses. The shell of a 

 cuttlefish, a first cousin of the octopus, 

 is more pronounced; it is often found 

 washed up on the shore^ — a white, leaf- 

 shaped body with a hard projecting 

 guard on one side and soft laminae on 

 the other. 



The octopus is a hideous brute, and 

 you can always find him at dead low 

 tide crawling or lurking about in the 

 shadow of the rocks, particularly to- 

 wai'ds evening, for he does not love the 

 strong light. His staring, deep golden 

 eyes are quickly seen, and they are most 

 wicked looking things. The octopus has 

 the power of flooding his skin with 

 blushes of different colours to correspond 

 with his surroundings. His eight long 

 arms are covered on the underside with 

 a double row of suckers, no less than 

 240 to an arm, which give him tremen- 

 dous power when he gi'ips a victim. The 

 arms are also used for creeping and 

 slow swimming. Rapid swimming is 

 done backward by forcible ejection of 

 water from a tube in the body which 

 points forward. 



In the centre of the circle of arms is 



a pair of thick fleshy lips which hide a 

 powerful pair of jaws shaped 

 like a parrot's beak. Behind the beak 

 is an extraor-diiiary tongue, part of it 

 soft and fleshy and capable of appreciat- 

 ing the flavour of its food, the re- 

 mainder covered with strong file teeth 

 to tear the food up. 



The head is connected with the bag- 

 like bod}' by a kind of waist, and it is 

 just behind this waist that the funnel 

 tube lies Avhich the octopus uses in rapid 

 swiunning. From this tube he can also, 

 if attacked, eject a quantity of black 

 inky fluid, which completely hides him, 

 but he is not so prone to doing this as 

 is the cuttlefish. 



The female octopus makes an excellent 

 mother. She lays about 600 egg-s at a 

 time on the walls of the cave Avhere she 

 lives or on the seaweetis around, and 

 during the 7 weeks of hatching she 

 guards them most faithfully. The young 

 ones are sociable, and swim about on 

 the surface together, but as they grow 

 older they become solitary in habit. 



The octopus is hunted fiercely by the 

 sharks and porpoises, and should one 

 escape it is usually with the loss of 

 several of its arms. In this case the 

 disabled victim retires to a cave for a 

 few months and grows new member's to 

 replace those Avhich have been lost. 



Mr. 0. W. Tiegs, M.Sc, Lecturer lu 

 Zoology, Adelaide University, recently 

 spent some ten days in our library con- 

 sulting works on the metamorphoses of 

 insects. 



Mr. A. C. Mackay, F.R.G.S., of the 

 Austral Guano Company, which holds a 

 lease of Walpole Island, about 150 

 miles south of Noumea, New Caledonia, 

 has presented to the Museum some in- 

 teresting specimens found on the island. 

 These comprise clam shell ornaments, 

 left behind by the former inhabitants, 

 and remains of the extinct homed tur- 

 tle Miolania, which was previously known 

 only from Australia, Lord Howe. Island, 

 and Patagonia. This extension of its 

 known range is of considerable scientific 

 importance, and Mr. Mackay is to be 

 congratulated on his find. 



Some members of our flora and faima 

 which ai'e not appreciated in Australia 

 are in great demand in other parts of 

 tlie world. Mr. C. E. Pembertou, of the 

 Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association, 

 has spent some time here collecting 

 seeds of the Moreton Bay fig, which is 

 highly esteemed in Hawaii for affore- 

 station purposes. Mr. Pemberton has 

 also been very successful in procuring a 

 series of beneficial insects, including the 

 wasp, which is essential for the fertiliza- 

 tion of the figs. Mr. E. W. Rust, of the 

 Californian Department of Agriculture, 

 Avho, like Mr. Pemberton, has come to 

 Australia in quest of beneficial insects, 

 recently visited the museum and in- 

 spected the entomological collection. 



