194 MOLLUSKS; CEPHALOPODS. 



If all accounts of them are true, cephalopods some- 

 times reach an enormous size. Aristotle tells us of 

 one which was five fathoms in length ! In 1853 a 

 cuttle-fish, whose tentacles were five or six inches in 

 diameter, was cast upon the shores of Jutland. In 

 1861 the officers and crew of the French steamer Alec- 

 ton saw one, forty leagues northeast of Teneriife, which 

 was estimated to be at least fifteen feet in length, with 

 arms five or six feet- long, and a beak a foot across. 



PAPER-SAILORS. 

 The Aigonauts, or Paper-Sailors, Figure 358, have 

 a very delicate and beautiful shell, and they swim by 

 placing two of their arms, which are webbed, close to 

 the sides of the shell, and the others close together, 

 and then ejecting water from the funnel seen just be- 

 low the eye. The Argonaut is often called Nautilus, 

 — the true Nautilus is another animal, — and it has 

 frequently been stated that it sails on the sea by spread- 

 ing its sail-shaped arms to the breeze ; a pleasant 

 story, but one which naturalists no longer believe. 



OCTOPUS. 



The Octopus, or Poulpe, Figure 359, has no outside 

 shell, and the arms are united at the base by a web. 

 It varies from one or two inches to two feet in length, 

 and has only eight arms. 



SQUIDS, OR LOLIGOS, Am) CUTTLE-FISHES. 



Sqiiids have a long body, and broad, fin-like organs 

 at the hind extremity, and they have a long and slen- 

 der internal shell which, from its shape, is called a 

 "pen." They are from one to two feet and a hah 



