LECTURE X. 
131 
tance round. This practice of the Cuttle-fish was 
well known to the ancients. Our own celebrated 
countryman, Mr. Ray, draw's from this circum- 
stance a singularly apposite and witty illustration ; 
and observes that an obscure and prolix author 
may not improperly be compared to a Cuttle-Fish, 
since he may be said to hide himself under his 
own ink! The black liquor or ink of the Cuttle- 
Fish, when collected, and dried, splits or cracks 
into fragments, wdiich being then ground down, 
and redissolved in water, form an exquisite Ink, 
of the most durable blackness j and the well-known 
Chinese preparation, commonly called Indian-Ink, 
is, in reality, supposed to be no other than the 
concrete) u ice of the Cuttle-Fish, carefully managed, 
perfumed, and at length formed into the orna- 
mented cakes or masses in wdiich we receive it. 
I should here observe that all the species of the 
genus Sepia are provided with a similar fluid, 
wdiich they use for similar purposes ; but that of 
the Common Cuttle-Fish is of a deeper or blacker 
colour than in most other kinds. In some species 
it is of a reddish-brown colour, and from it is pre- 
pared by the Chinese the browm and reddish-brown 
varieties of Indian-Ink which are sometimes seen. 
