NATURAL HISTORY. 
358 
nearly related, that the passing it in silence would be an 
unpardonable omission. 
Of all animals, the cuttle-fish , though in some respects 
superior to this tribe, possesses qualities the most extraor- 
dinary. It is about two feet long, covered with a very thin 
skin, and its flesh composed of a gelatinous substance, 
which, however, withinside is strengthened by astrong bone, 
of which such great use is made by the goldsmith. It is 
possessed of eight arms, which it extends, and which are 
probably of service to it in fishing for its prey ; while alive, 
it is capable of lengthening or contracting these at pleasure ; 
but when dead, they contract, and lose their rigidity. They 
feed upon small fish, which they seize with their arms ; and 
they are bred from eggs, which are laid upon the weeds 
along the sea-shore. 
The cuttle-fish is found along many of the coasts of 
Europe, but are not easily caught, from a contrivance with 
which they are furnished by nature ; this is a black sub- 
stance, of the colour of ink, which is contained in a bladder 
generally on the left side of the belly, and which is ejected 
in the manner of an excrement from the anus. Whenever, 
therefore, this fish is pursued, and when it finds a difficulty 
of escaping, it spurts forth a great quantity of this black 
liquor, by which the waters are totally darkened; and then 
it escapes, by lying close at the bottom. In this manner 
the creature finds its safety, and men find ample cause for 
admiration, from the great variety of stratagems with which 
creatures are endued for their peculiar preservation. 
The common Polypus is found at the bottom of wet 
ditches, or attached to the under surface of the broad-leafed 
plants that grow and swim on the waters. The same differ- 
ence holds between these and the sea-water polypus, a* 
between all the productions of the sea, and of the land and 
the ocean. The marine vegetables and animals grow to a 
monstrous size. The eel, the pike, or the bream, of fresh 
waters, are but small ; but in the sea, they grow to an enormous 
magnitude. The herbs of the field are at most but few fee 1 
high ; those of the sea often shoot forth a stalk of a hundred* 
It is so between the polypi of both elements. Those of the sea 
are found from two feet in length, to three or four ; and Pliny 
has even described one, the arms of which were no less than 
thirty feet long. Those in fresh water, however, are com- 
paratively minute; at their utmost size, seldom above three 
