been supposed by some anatomists that 

 the shells of the fossil Ammonites were 

 attached to the animal in a similar man- 

 ner, and if this sho'uld be true these small 

 moUusks would assume a new meaning 

 as being the last survivors' of a large 

 group of animals of which all except 

 Spirula are extinct. 



Probably the best known of the shell- 

 less cephalopods is the octopus, with its 

 rounded body, large eyes and long arms. 

 Almost everybody has read Victor 

 Hugo's weird account of the octopus in 

 his "Toilers of the Sea," and the animal 

 has thus been rendered more or less fa- 

 miliar, although it was made to do sev- 

 eral things by the author that it would 

 not do in nature, as, for example, "drink- 

 ing" a man alive. The Octopus is found 

 abundantly throughout temperate and 

 tropical seas, generally on the coast 

 among rocks, but frequently on the sandy 

 bottom in water of moderate depth. Here 

 it may occasionally be seen "walking" 

 clumsily along on its eight long arms, its 

 httle round body being balanced above 

 the arms. Its favorite position, however, 

 is am.ong the rocks. In such a locality 

 it will squeeze its body into some crevice 

 and spread out its arms until they form a 

 sort of web, resembling in this position a 

 huge spider waiting for its prey. And it 

 may well be likened to a spider for from 

 this web there is no escape if once a hap- 

 less fish has come in contact with the 

 powerful suckers on the long arms. The 

 poor fish is paralyzed when seized by the 

 octopus and is drawn towards the mouth, 

 where it is torn to pieces by the beak-like 

 jaws, and swallowed. 



Like many of the mollusks of which 

 we have written the octopus is esteemed 

 as a valuable article of food by several 

 savage tribes as well as by some civilized 

 people. The native of the Pacific coast 

 catches the Octopus (Octopus punctatus) 

 by a very ingenious method. Providing 

 himself with a spear twelve or fourteen 

 feet long which has four or five barbed 

 pieces of hard wood some fourteen inches 

 long attached to the end, he paddles his 

 canoe to the feeding-ground of the mol- 

 lusk. One is soon found in ten or twelve 

 feet of water and the Indian carefully lets 

 down his spear until within a few inches 

 of the center of the animal, when he 



quickly plunges it into the soft mass. In- 

 stantly the water is in commotion, the 

 eight long arms writhing about in an en- 

 deavor to reach the boat. The Indian 

 knows that should this happen his 

 chances for-life would be slim indeed. But 

 he is prepared, and carefully lifting up the 

 octopus with his barbed spear until it is 

 above the surface of the water, he plunges 

 a long, sharp spear, with which he is pro- 

 vided, into each arm where it joins the 

 body. At each plunge of the spear, an 

 arm becomes helpless and in. a short time 

 the animal, which but a few moments i^e- 

 fore had the power of a score of men, lies 

 in the canoe, a shapeless, helpless mass. 



That the octopus is good eating the 

 writer can attest from experience, for 

 during a visit to Yucatan some years ago 

 this mollusk was served as a meat dish 

 and was very palatable, the flesh being 

 firm and tender and much resembling 

 chicken. The portion which fell to the 

 writer was the head, with a part of the 

 arms attached. 



One of the most interesting chaiacter- 

 istics of theOctopi and allied cephalopods 

 is their facility for changing color v/hen 

 danger is near. These changes are caused 

 by little pigment cells just beneath the 

 skin, which expand and contract. Thus, 

 if a person is looking at an octopus in 

 captivity and the animal is so placed that 

 it cannot escape, the observer will be as- 

 tonished to see the body of the animal 

 suddenly assume a deep pinkish color 

 which in turn is succeeded by a olae and 

 then by a green, and finally a return to 

 pink. The body is covered with these lit- 

 tle pigment cells, the different colors — 

 pink, blue and green — being so evenly 

 scattered over the surface than when each 

 color cell is expanded the whole body as- 

 sumes that tinge. This is one of the most 

 wonderful characteristics of the Mol- 

 lusca. 



Another cephalopod closely related to 

 the Octopus is the Squid, several species 

 of which are found on the Atlantic coast 

 of the United States. In this genus the 

 body is long and cylindrical, ends in two 

 fins, has a prominent head terminating in 

 eight short and two long arms and is sup- 

 ported by a long, cartilaginous, internal 

 pen, which is made up of a central shaft 

 with expansions on each side like a quill, 



226 



