18 
THE NATURAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, 
Department of ConeFjologp. 
ROBERT E. BRIGGS, Editor. 
New Bedford, Mass. 
Coutributions of items regarding the collection and use 
of shells, and accounts of personal exploration and new 
finds are earnestly solicited. 
It is intended to consider each month some individual, 
species, genus, fiumly or class of the mollusca, in this 
connection. Additional notes are earnestly solicited. 
THE HISTORY AND USE OP MOLLUSKS. 
Robert E. Briggs. 
It is intended to consider each month some individual 
species, genus, family, or class of the mollusca, in this' con¬ 
nection. Additional notes are earnestly solicited. 
I.—CEPHALOPODS. 
The Cephalopoda is the largest class 
of the mollusca. It is seldom well repre¬ 
sented ill collections, as the individuals 
of but one genus are enclosed in shells. 
In former geologic periods the shell bear¬ 
ing cephalopods were much more numer¬ 
ous, both in respect to individuals and to 
species. Here are found some of the 
most curious and beautiful fossil forms 
which have yet been discovered. Here 
also may be traced the evolution of a 
family from a nearly straight to a closely 
involute form. But now this once great 
sub-class — the Tetrabrauchiata — has 
been almost entirely replaced by the car¬ 
nivorous Gasteropods, leaving the pearly 
Nautilus as its sole surviving representa¬ 
tive. So we have principally to deal 
with those not bearing a shell. 
Cephalopods are chiefly used as bait 
for coarse fish, especially cod. In New¬ 
foundland, half the cod caught is by this 
means. They are generally caught by 
“jigs,” but sometimes great fires are 
built on the shore at night to attract 
them. Drawn by this, the school ap¬ 
proaches too near the land, and, left by 
the receding tide, they are gathered in 
great quantities 
Men, as well as fishes, eat them, and 
in many parts of Polynesia they are re¬ 
garded as a positive luxury. The an¬ 
cient Spartans even made a broth of the 
inky discharge by which the animal 
blinds a pursuer. The greatest demand 
for them comes from the shores of the 
Mediterranean, during Lent. Here they 
are much eaten by members of the 
Roman Catholic and Greek Churches, as 
they are not included in the prohibition 
of the use of flesh. In Tunis they bring 
from six to twelve dollars per hundred 
weight. They are generally pickled or 
dried, and sent to Greece, where they 
are sold at from sixty to eighty dollars 
per cantav of one hundred seventy-six 
pounds. 
Long did scientists wonder what the 
true origin of ambrigris was. Finally it 
was ascertained that it was the result of 
the disordered digestion of the whale. 
Now ambergris has a strong oder of 
musk, as have also many of the species 
of cephalopods which from the chief 
food of several kinds of whales. More¬ 
over, in ambrigris have been found the 
mandibles and other indigestible parts of 
cephalopods. From this it is surmised 
that we owe one of our richest perfumes 
to the good offices of these animals. 
Perhaps no animal, the sea serpent 
alone excepted, has been the subject of 
such weird and monstrous tales as the 
cuttle-fish and octopus, both members of 
this class. From time immemorial stories 
have been told of the malignant influence 
of a strange sea-monster having many 
long arms, a soft body, and terrible 
eyes; a creature whose chief delight 
seemed to be in the destruction of human 
life; a being by whose existence sailors 
used to explain their dread of the open 
sea, and to whom was ascribed the habit 
