60 
NATURE OF THE 
numerous suckers, which may not unaptly be compared 
to a hand* 
“ These processes are employed by cuttle-fish as 
anchors, for the purpose of fixing themselves firmly to 
rocks during violent agitations of the sea; and accord- 
ingly we find, that it is only the extremities of these long 
tentacula that are provided with suckers, while the short 
ones have them also along their whole length. The other 
genera of cephalopodous mollusca are like the sepia, pro- 
vided with tentacula attached to the head. They compre- 
hend animals differing exceedingly in size, some being 
very large, but a great number very minute and even 
microscopic. — See M. D’Orbigny, in the f Annaies des 
Sciences Naturelles,’ vii. 96. 
“ Other animals of this kind inhabit shells, one of 
■which is the argonaut, or paper-nautilus, which possesses 
a shell, says Roget, “ exceedingly thin, and almost pel- 
lucid, probably for the sake of lightness, for it is intended 
to be used as a boat. For the purpose of enabling the 
animal to avail itself of the impulses of the air while 
it is thus floating on the water, nature has furnished it 
with a thin membrane, which she has attached to two of 
the tentacula, so that it can be spread out like a sail, to 
catch the light winds which waft the animal forward on 
its course. While its diminutive bark is thus scudding 
over the surface of the deep, the assiduous navigator 
does not neglect to apply its tentacula as oars on either 
side, to direct as well as to accelerate its motion. No 
sooner does the breeze freshen, and the sea become 
ruffled, than the animal hastens to take down its sail, 
