[ igo 
APPE 
4 
A.caye } ome 
The anatomy of the * Sea-Sepia or Cuttle-Fifh, Infcribed to the moft excellent Francis 
Redi, phyfician to the great Duke of Tufcany, a moft indefatigable fearcher into 
the miraculous works of Nature. 
Tat Lube JudNpeende 0: Mall n@aoubs OaNy 
‘HERE is not among the foft fithes, 
which are {aid to have no blood, any 
that claims our attention fo much as 
the Sepia or Cuttle-fith ; as well on account of its 
external figure, which is wonderful beyond all 
defcription, as for the ftructure, order, and dif- 
pofition of its internal parts, which moft evidently 
fhew themfelves the work of infinite wifdom. I 
fhall not {peak of the common miftakes and errors 
of the generality of mankind concerning this crea- 
ture, much lefs attempt to cenfure thofe eminent 
writers, who before me have treated of this fub- 
ject ; for every one ofthem wrote of natural hif- 
- tory according to his own genius and fancy. I 
choofe rather to exhibit in a few words the external 
and internal parts of this extremely fingular ani- 
mal. And whilft I do this, I appeal for the 
truth of my relation to the reader’s own eyes, by 
defiring him to infpect the creature itfelf. Cer- 
tainly, thofe who would avoid being impofed 
upon, fhould ftudy nature in herfelf; for fo 
many fallacies and errors have crept into the 
writings of preceding ages, that people cannot 
but be led aftray by them, as often taking 
things upon truft, they neglect to fee for them- 
felves. ‘This will evidently appear by the fol- 
lowing hiftery, which, tho’ a new relation, does 
no more than exhibit in a new drefs the truth it- 
felf, than which nothing can be more ancient. 
The Sepia or Cuttle, is a creature that has 
eight legs, two long arms or claws, a fhort 
head, very large eyes, and the beak of a Parrot. 
The body is fomewhat oblong, confiderably 
broad and thick ; and the back is prettily marked 
_ with feveral whitith farrows, and elegantly dot- 
ted. The Sepia or Cuttle is frequently found 
dead on the Dutch coafts in the fummer months; 
it was there I firft met with fome of them, and 
made drawings of their vifcera. But the hiftory 
I am now about to give, is no more than a bare 
narration of what I obferved in two of them, 
which were brought me from the fea about the 
middle of May, and of which I took fhort notes 
and drawings, in great hafte, during four days that 
] {pent in this inquiry. 
The moft confiderable parts of the Sepia, 
which firft offer themfelves to our view, are its 
legs and arms or claws, The legs to the number 
of eight, are feated round its mouth. The two 
forefeet, Tab. L. Fig. 1. aa, are very thick, and 
appear broad, when the fith lies flat upon its belly. 
The other fix are very like one another in fize and 
form. One fide of ali thefe feet is covered with 
a common {kin, which is pretty ftrong, and of 
a purple colour interfperfed with many - black 
{pots ; befides which, the two larger legs are 
marbled as it were with fome white furrows 8, 
But the moft remarkable thing in thefe legs, is 
their being all thick fet with a prodigious number 
of particles like flattifh but hollow globules, and 
each fixed toa kind of ftalk ccc; Yet the extre- 
mities of the arms or claws, to which authors 
have given the name of Promufcides, are {till 
more largely furnithed with thefekind of tubercles. 
Thefe brachia or arms aré very long, if compared 
with the legs, and they are placed near the bill 
or beak, in the midway between the broadeft 
pair of legs, andthe pair next to itdd, They are 
of a cylindrical figure, and of a white colour inter- 
mixed with black and purple {pots. ‘The fub- 
{tance of them, as well as that of the xx legs, is 
foft; and they have the fame kind of {kin, batit 
covers them all over, which is more than it does 
in the legs. The extremities of the legs and 
arms are pretty much of the fame form, only 
that the tubercles of the arms are larger, and the 
{talks upon which thefe tubercles grow much 
longer and ftronger than thofe of the legs ¢. The 
extremity of one of the arms is always larger than 
that of the other, 
As thefe globules are hollow, authors have 
thought proper to call them Acetabula or {awcers, 
Rondoletius tells us, that this ftrange fith can 
faften itfelf by its arms to any body it meets with, 
in the fame manner as cupping-glafles ftick to the 
fkin by a kind of fu@tion. And certainly this is 
a very juft comparifon, as appears from the moft 
wonderful contrivance of thefe parts, which I 
fhall prefently defcribe. 
Itis to be remarked, that the fame kind of 
fkin which covers the under furface of this ani- 
mal’s eight feet, does not extend to the upper ; it 
* The Sepia or Cuttle-fith is one of the animals of the fixth clafs in the Linnean fyftem, which he entitles Vermes : it comes un- 
der the fecond order, to which he has given: the name Zoophyta, and is arranged with the Star-fith 
the genus are thefe ; the body is oblong and depreffed, the feelers or tentacula are ten, 
others, and have akind of foot-ftalks. 
marie, and the O&opedi defcribed in the Upfal-tranfactions 
A 
and Polype. The charatters of 
and two of thefe are much longer than the 
Befide the Cuttle-fifh, this genus comprehends the Loligo, which the French call the Cala- 
. Of the Calamary we fhall have occafion to fpeak largely hereafter, 
goes 
