12 
SEA MONSTERS UNMASKED. 
tinctive appellations, are unsatisfactory. The word cuttle " 
is derived from " cuddle," to hug, or embrace — in allusion 
to the manner in which the animal seizes its prey, and en- 
folds it in its arms ; and "squid " is derived from "squirt," 
in reference to its habit of squirting water or ink. But as 
all the known members of the class, except the pearly 
nautilus, Nautilus pompilius, have these habits in common, 
the distinguishing terms are hardly apposite. As, how^ever, 
they are conventionally accepted and understood, I prefer 
to use them. As with other mollusks, so with the cepha- 
lopods, some have shells, and some are naked or have only 
rudimentary shells. The Argonaut, or paper nautilus, has 
been regarded as the analogue of the snail, which, like it, 
secretes an external shell for the protection of its soft body ; 
and the octopus as that of the garden slug, which, having 
organs like those of the snail, as the octopus has organs 
like those of the shell-bearing argonaut, has no shell. The 
cuttles and squids may be compared to some of the sea- 
slugs, as Aplysia and Bullcea, and to some land-slugs, as 
Parmacella and Limax, which have an internal shell. 
The argonaut and the other families of the cephalopods 
do not come within the scope of this treatise ; we will there- 
fore confine our attention to the three above mentioned. Of 
the anatomy and homology of the Octopus^ Sepia, and Cala- 
mary we need say no more than will suffice to show in what 
manner they resemble each other, and wherein they differ, 
in order that we may the more clearly perceive to which of 
them the story of the Kraken probably owes its origin. 
The octopus, the sepia, and the calamary are all con- 
structed on one fundamental plan. A bag of fleshy 
muscular skin, called the mantle-sac, contains the organs 
of the body, heart, stomach, liver, intestines, a pair of gills 
by which oxygen is absorbed from the water for the puri- 
