130 
LECTURE X. 
fiery in a high degree : the exterior coat or ball 
of the eye is remarkably strong, so as to seem 
almost calcareous, and is when taken out of a 
brilliant pearl-colour; and they are worn in some 
particular parts of Italy, and in the Grecian islands 
by way of artificial pearls in necklaces. The 
Cuttle-Fish, like the rest of its tribe, is of a pre- 
dacious nature, and feeds on fishes, shell-fish, and 
other marine animals, and is, no doubt, a highly 
formidable adversary; since it possesses the power 
of fastening itself so closely by the assistance of 
the suckers or cups of its arms, that no animal, 
unless of very considerable size and strength, can 
be supposed to liberate itself from its grasp. Its 
fiivourite residence is between the vacuities or 
clefts of submarine rocks, where it is generally 
sure of meeting with plenty of food, and, in defect 
of which, in such situatioi^, it occasionally sallies 
out into the ocean in pursuit of prey. During 
tliese excursions, on the approach either of danger 
to itself, or the more easily to prevent the escape 
of its intended prey, it discharges, from the tubu- 
lar orifice at the breast, a quantity of the black 
fiuid with which it is always amply provided ; and 
thus obscures or darkens the water to a great dis- 
