. The animal kingdom : arranged after its organization; forming a natural history of animals, and an introduction to comparative anatomy. Zoology. Class 1. CEPHALOPODES. 331 with numerous organs for seizing their prey, they destroy muny Fishes and Crusta- ceous animals. Their flesh is eatable. Their inky secretion is employed in painting, and from it some have asserted that the China ink of commerce is manufactured.* The Cephalopods comprise only one order f, which we divide into genera from the nature of the shell. Those which have no external shell formed, according to LinnseuSj the single g
. The animal kingdom : arranged after its organization; forming a natural history of animals, and an introduction to comparative anatomy. Zoology. Class 1. CEPHALOPODES. 331 with numerous organs for seizing their prey, they destroy muny Fishes and Crusta- ceous animals. Their flesh is eatable. Their inky secretion is employed in painting, and from it some have asserted that the China ink of commerce is manufactured.* The Cephalopods comprise only one order f, which we divide into genera from the nature of the shell. Those which have no external shell formed, according to LinnseuSj the single genus Sepia, or Cutti,e-fish,J W'bicli we now subdivide as follows :— The Poulpes (Octopits, Lam.) ; the Polypus of the ancients. These have only two small conical grains of a lioniy substance imbedded in tlieir back, one on each side ; and tlieir sac, ha\ing no fins, I'eprcsents an oval purse. Tbeir feet are eight in number, all nearly of equal size, very large in proportion to the body, and united together at their insertions by a mem- brane. The Octopus uses them equally in swimming, in creeping, and in seizing its prey. From their length and strength they are formidable weapons, by means of which the prey is entangled and caught; and they liave often been the destruction of swimmers.§ The eyes are proportionally small, and the skin can be made at will to contract over them so as to cover tliem completely. The ink bag is embedded in the liver. The glands of the oviducts are small. Some (the Poh/pcs of Aristotle) have their suckers in two alternating' rows along [the oral margin] of each foot. The common species (Sepia octopodia, Linn.), with a minutely granulous skin, arms six times as long as the body, and g'arnished with 120 pairs of suckers, infests our coasts in summer, where it destroys an immense quantity of Crustacea. The seas of the tropics produce the Octopus gramdatus, Lam. (Sep'.a rugosa, Bosc,) Seb. iii. ii. 2, 3, known hy its more decidedly granulated body, it
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Keywords: ., bookauthorwe, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectzoology
