CEPIIALOPODES. 



339 



with numerous organs for seizing their prey, they destroy many Fishes and Crusta- 

 ceous animals. 



Their flesh is eatable. Their inky secretion is employed in planting, and from it 

 some have asserted that the China ink of commerce is manufactured.* 



The Ccphalopods comprise only one order f, which we divide into genera from the natm-e of 

 the shell. Those which have no external shell formed, according to Limueus, the single genus 



Sepia, or Cuttle-fish, t 

 which wc now subdivide as follows : — 



The PouLrES {Octopus, Lam.) ; the Polypus of the ancients. 

 These have only two small conical grains of a horny substance indiediled in their back, one on each 

 side ; and their sac, having no fins, represents an oval purse. Their feet are eight in number, all nearly 

 of equal size, very large in proportion to the body, and united together at their insertions by a mem- 

 brane. The Octopus uses them equally in swimming, in creeping, and in seizing its prey. From their 

 length and strength they are formidable weapons, by means of which the jney is entangled and 

 cau^dit ; and ihey have often been the destruction of swimmers. § The eyes arc proportionally small, 

 and the skin can be made at will to contract over them so as to cover them completely. The ink bag 

 is embedded in the liver. The glands of the oviducts are small. 



Some (the Pohjpcs of Aristotle) have their suckers in two alternating^ rows along- [the oral marg-in] of each foot. 

 Tlie common species {Sepia ociopodia, Linn.), with a minutely g;ranuloLis skin, arms six times as long; as the 

 liody, and g:arnished with 120 pairs of suckers, infests our coasts in summer, where it destroys an immeuse 

 qaautity of Crustacea. The seas of the tropics produce the Octopus granulatus, Lam. iScpia rugosa, Bosc.) 

 Sch. iii. ii. 2, 3, known by its more decidedly granulated body, its arms only a little longer than itself, g-arnished 

 with fifty pairs of suckers. Some believe this to be the species which furnishes the China ink of commerce. 



( )ther Foulpes (tlie Eledons of Aristotle) have only a sino;le row of suckers down each foot. In the Mediterranean 

 there is a species remarkable for its musky smell: it is the Octopun moschatus. Lam. — Mem. de la Soc. d''Hist. 

 Nat. m 4to, pi. 11 ; Rinddei,^\^y. 



The Argonauts {Aryonauta, Linn.)— 

 Are Poulpes with two rows of suckers : the pair of feet nearest the back expand, at their extremities, 

 into abroad membrane. Tliey have not the dorsal cartilaginous spicula of the comnimi Octopus; hut 



we always find these Cuttles in a very thin, 

 regularly-grooved spiral shell, which, from the 

 disproportionate size of the last whorl, has 

 some resemblance to a canoe, the spire repre- 

 senting the poop. The animal uses it too as a 

 boat, for when the sea is calm, groups of them 

 have been seen navigating the surface in it, 

 employing six of their tentacula for oars, and 

 raising, it is said, the two with expanded ex- 

 tremities to serve the purposes of sails. If the 

 waves rise, or any danger threatens, the Ary-o- 

 naut withdraws all its arms into the shell, con- 

 tracts itself there, and descends to the bottom. 

 Its body does not penetrate within the spire of 

 Fig. J51.— Arifonnuta the slicll, aud it appears does not adhere to it, 



at least there is no muscular attachment, and this fact has led some authors to think that the Cuttle is 

 a parasite of the same nature as the Hermit-crab || ; but as it is always found in the same shell, as we 

 never fiml any other animal there, although it is very common, aud naturally adapted for rising to the 



" However. M. Al. Rcmus/it has fuunrl 



I hi I 



opir 



, [which, Ihf 



n^Ial 



hiriL,' in Cliii 



■V Tlie discoveries of Mr. Owen liave proved the necessity of di 

 tlic L'Hss into twv orders;— 1. L>ibiianc'h iata, witli two brmicl 

 ^ihieli nil (he n«/.'cd Cullle-fisli are exsiniples ; and, 2. Tethaura 

 ATA. \\\C\ r^iur lirancliije. as in Niintilua, .inti as supposed to hav 

 in Oie iniihiloculir-shelleH fossil Cephiilopodes.— Ed. 



J hi Bliiinville's system ihey fctrm the order Cri/plfdihTimchu 



§ Thi 



of ilu 



r siiikirif,' bo/its /ijid ships :ire t 



■ely -"I'l. 

 ■cly fabulous. - 



I] Hence M. Riifiiic>(jue, and others followin(r him, have made Ihe 

 finlinal a genus under the nsmie Oci/thiie. [Cerlaitily the opinion of its 

 being a piir;isite was, until rECcntly, entertained by most naturalists; 

 but that advocated by Cuvier has been j;rreatly strengtliencd, or rather 

 proved, by the experiments of Mrs. Power. See the Miip;. of Natural 

 History, conducted by IMr. Charlesworth ; and the dissections and 

 argument.'; of :\Ir. 0«-en, in the Pnwccdh'g-s luid Tran.t/irliojis "/ the 

 Zuulogh'il S'jiitty of I.u^'d',,,. The animal does not sail as here de- 

 scribed ; tlie use of the expanded arms is to retain the animal withia 

 ils shell,! 



z2 



