202 CURIOUS HOMES AND THEIR TENANTS. 



curved flights through the air, so as occasionally to 

 throw themselves aboard or over the deck of passing 

 vessels. 



"When any of the arras of a devilfish have fast- 

 ened upon living prey, it is at once brought to the 

 mouth and pitilessly crushed in its powerful jaws, 

 whose cutting edges fit one over the other like those 

 of a tortoise. 



Nature has also provided this formidable creature 

 with an additional means of defense in the power of 

 ejecting a fluid of inky blackness in suflicient quan- 

 tity to form a thick cloud in the water and thus con- 

 ceal itself from its foes. It is of this dark liquid that 

 the sepia paint, so much used by water-color artists, is 

 made. Mr. Henry Lee, in his Aquarium !N"otes, says, 

 <3oncerning the octopus : 



" Our octopus fortunately selected as a suitable 

 site for her nest a recess in the rock work close to the 

 front glass of the tank, so that her movements could 

 be easily observed. Her body just fllled the entrance 

 to it, and she further built it and strengthened its 

 defenses by dragging to the mouth of her cavern 

 more than two dozen hving oysters and piling them 

 one upon another, to form the outer wall of her nest, 

 and serve as a breastwork or barricade, behind which 

 she ensconced herself. 



" Over this rampart she peered with her great, 

 sleepless, prominent eyes ; her two f oi-emost arms ex- 

 tended beyond it, their extremities coiling and writh- 

 ing in ceaseless motion, as if prepared to strike out 

 right and left at any intruder. Her companions evi- 



