166 
ANIMAL CURIOSITIES 
went so far as to dispose of them as 
pearls. 
A fully-grown cuttle-fish measures about 
ten inches in length and six inches in breadth, 
while its ordinary or sessile arms are about 
five inches long, and its tentacular ones eighteen 
inches, the latter being entirely retractile 
within the creature’s head. The animal ap¬ 
pears to resort to the practice of discharging 
its “ ink ” much more freely than other cepha- 
lopods, and the quantity of the fluid it is able 
to secrete is also much greater. Although 
it is found around the British shores, as well 
as in many other parts of the world, yet, 
probably, few of us have ever seen a living 
example. 
Possibly, however, we may have come across 
their eggs, even without being aware of the 
fact, for these are frequently washed up upon 
the shore after a storm. 
They look exactly like black grapes, and 
feel as if they were made of india-rubber, 
every one having a flexible stalk, and a number 
of them being fastened together in a bunch, 
attached to a piece of seaweed. 
Each of these grape-like capsules contains 
a single young one which, when first born, 
is about the size of a sixpence. 
It is possible to remove the baby prema- 
