482 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
spring. They are rarely seen in the Channel in winter ; but with the 
vernal sun they appear in large shoals. What is the mechanism by 
which these animals are moved? When the cuttle-fish wishes to 
swim rapidly and backwards, it advances in the water by means of 
the funnel which ejects the ambient liquid. When they wish to 
approach a prey slowly in order to seize it, they swim by the aid of 
their fins and arms. 
The sepiz are flesh-eaters, and tolerably voracious. They feed 
upon fishes, molluscs, and crustaceans. They are also true aquatic 
brigands, who kill, not to feed themselves, but for the sake of killing ; 
and Nature, by a just equilibrium, applies to them the 4x éalionis. 
They fall victims, in their turn, to the vengeful jaws of the porpoises 
and dolphins. Such is the terrible law of Nature: some must die 
that others may live. Michelet gives us a glimpse of the manner 
in which the dolphins dispose of the cuttle-fish in his “ Livre de 
la Mer.” “These lords of the ocean,” he says, “are so delicate 
in their tastes that they eat only the head and arms, which are 
both tender and easy of digestion. They reject the hard parts, and 
especially the after-part of the body. The coast at Royan, for 
example, is covered with thousands of these mutilated cuttle-fish. 
The porpoises take most incredible bounds, at first to frighten them, 
and afterwards to run them down; in short, after their feast they 
give themselves up to gymnastics.” 
In the spring the sepiz deposit their eggs, but without abandon- 
ing them. On the contrary, they exhibit a truly maternal care, 
taking much trouble to attach them to some submarine body, in 
which position the temperature of the water serves to hatch the eggs. 
Sepia officinalis, for example, chooses, at the moment of laying, a 
stem of Fucus, or of Gorgonia, or some other solid submarine body 
not less in diameter than the little finger, and there it firmly 
attaches its eggs, which are pear-shaped, that is, pointed at one 
extremity, while a long /anidre of a gelatinous nature, flat and black 
in appearance, with which they are provided, surrounds the solid 
body like a ring. Each female lays and attaches in this manner 
from twenty to thirty eggs, which are clustered together somewhat 
like a bunch of fine black grapes (Fig. 326). About a month after 
this the eggs are hatched. 
The colours of Sepia officinalis vary considerably ; but in general 
it may be remarked that the males are ornamented with deeper 
colours than the females. Transverse bands of a blackish brown 
furrow their backs, and seem to take from their breadth. Outside 
of these bands are small spots of a vivid white ; very near the edge 
