Loligid^. MOLLUSCA. Cuttle-fish. 315 
and having four rows of cups. The shell is as long as 
the bod}', narrow, with three diverging ribs and a 
hollow, conical apex. The Sagittated Calamaries, as 
they are called, live in the open ocean, where they 
occur in large troops, and are found in all climates. 
They are nocturnal animals, appearing on the surface 
of the sea only after evening has closed in. They are 
greedily devoured by cetaceans and pelagic birds. 
THE COMMON SAGITTATED CALAMAEY (0. sagit- 
tatus) is extensively used as bait in the cod-fishery of 
Newfoundland. Indeed, it is so attractive to this fish, 
that it is said one-half of all the cod taken at Newfound- 
land is caught with it. It is exceedingly abundant at 
times off that coast, occurring in vast shoals, which 
present a curious appearance by their strongly-twisted 
compact form. Their appearance is hailed by hundreds 
of vessels ready for their capture ; and as a writer in 
the Edinburgh New Philosophic Journal says, “At this 
season of the year, the sea on the coast of St. Pierre is 
covered with from four hundred to five hundred sail of 
English and French ships, engaged in the Cuttle-fish 
fishery,” “During violent gales of wind, hundreds of 
tons of these molluscs are often thrown up together in 
beds on the flat beaches, the decay of which spreads an 
intolerable effluvium around. It is made no use of ex- 
cept for bait ; and as it maintains itself in deeper water 
than the Capelan, instead of nets being used to take it, 
it is jigged — a jigger being a number of hooks radiat- 
ing from a fixed centre made for the purpose. The 
cod is in best condition after having fed on it.” The 
Sagittated Calamary, as this species is more particularly 
called, is very quick and rapid in its movements. Dr. 
Gould, speaking of it, says : — “ So swift and straight 
is their progress, that they look like arrows shooting 
through the water and Colonel Sykes informs us 
that several specimens of this active creature leaped on 
board the vessel in which he was returning from India, 
while the wind was light and the sea calm. Indeed, 
the common name for it amongst sailors is the “ Sea 
Arrow,” or “ Flying Squid.” 
Family — LOLIGTD.^ {Calamaries, or Sleeve-fish). 
This family of Cuttle-fishes consists of animals which 
have an oblong, subcylindrical body, tapering behind, 
and much elongated in the males. The fins are situ- 
ated on the sides of the hinder part of the back. The 
head is subcylindrical, and the eyes are covered by the 
skin. The sessile arms in general have the cups or 
suckers in two rows, and the rings are provided with 
a narrow prominent edge on the centre of the external 
surface. The tentacular arms have the expanded 
extremities generally with four rows of cups, and they 
are only partly retractile into the subocular cavity. 
The shell is lanceolate, pennate, or spathulate, and 
solid ; and, as Professor Owen informs us, is multi- 
plied by age, several being found packed closely, one 
behind another, in old specimens. 
Genus Loligo. — The genus Loligo is the type, and 
in it the horny rings of the suckers are dentated, and 
the tentacular club has four rows of cups. The head 
is separate from the body, and the mouth is free all 
round. The shell is as long as the back, is pennate 
and has thin edges. The Calamaries are gregarious, 
many individuals uniting in companies, and sallying 
forth in the evening after sunset to scour the surface 
of the ocean for their prey. They swim with great 
rapidity, and also crawl head downwards on their oval 
disc. Fish, pelagic Crustacea, and the oceanic molluscs, 
form their food. 
LOLIGO MAGNA, or VULGARIS {the Common Sleeve- 
fish, or Squid), occurs abundantly on the coasts of Great 
Britain, and is eaten both by man and fishes. Mr. 
Couch tells us that they are used as food by the natives 
on the Cornish coast ; and he avers that they are 
“ excellent food, bearing a considerable resemblance to 
tripe.” He informs us further that on the same coast 
it forms a favourite bait among fishermen, “ few fish 
being able to resist it.” These animals deposit their 
eggs in subcylindrical masses crowded together on sea 
weeds, and one such cluster has been estimated to 
contain nearly forty thousand eggs ! 
Section II.— SEPIOPHOEA. 
This section contains only one family: — 
Family — SEPIIDiE {Sepias, or True Cuttle-fishes). 
These have a short, oval or rounded, and depressed 
body, furnished with fins bordering the whole side of 
the body, and separated from one another behind by a 
free space or kind of neck. They have a broad head 
and large eyes, furnished with a lower eyelid. The 
sessile arms are short and strong, and provided with 
four rows of suckers — the cups being spherical, fleshy, 
oblique, and peduncled. The tentacular arms are 
entirely retractile into the cell at their base, are long 
and slender, and are broadly expanded at their 
extremities. The shell is internal, as long and as wide 
as the body, and consists of a broad calcareous cellular 
plate, terminating behind in a hollow imperfectly- 
chambered tip or mucro. 
Genus Sepia.- — This is the only genus in the family. 
The species are inhabitants of all seas, and some of 
them grow to a large size. One of these is common 
on our own coasts, and is well known on those of 
various parts of Europe and Africa : — • 
THE COMMON SEPIA, or CUTTLE-FISH {Sepia offici- 
nalis), is of considerable size, and is of a purple colour 
on the back, w'ith darker cross bands, and with small 
white spots on the side. The shell is ovate, com- 
pressed, wrinkled above, semi-cartilaginous on the 
edge and behind, where it is rounded. When young, 
the apical beak is conical, prominent, and the upper 
part of the last internal plate occupied ; in the adult, 
half the beak becomes immersed in the cartilages, 
and the plate is diminished to one-third the length 
of the cavity. The thickened part of this shell is 
composed of numerous very thin parallel calcareous 
plates, separated by thousands of small hollow columns 
placed upright in the spaces between every two laminae, 
which render it very light and porous. Dr. Good 
says that the animals aid and regulate their motions 
by the power they have of introducing air at option 
