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Show 308 MOLLUSCA. bottom of the sac ; two oviducts t~ke up the ova and. pass ~hem out through two large glands which envelope th~m m a VIscid rna tt e~.a nd Co·l lect them into clusters. .T he testis of the male, placed like the ovary, communicates With a vas deferens which t ·nates in a Heshy penis, situated on the left of the anus. ermi l'k . T A bladder and prostate terminate there I eWise. here is reason to believe that fecundation is effected by sprinkling, as · s the case with most Fishes. In the spawning season the blad· ~er contains a multitude of little filiform bodies, which, by means of a peculiar mechanism, are rupture~ the momen~ ~ey reach the water, where they move about With great rapidity, and diffuse a humour with which they are filled. These animals are voracious and cruel; possessed both of agility and numerous modes of seizing their prey, th~y destro! immense quantities of Fish a~d C~u~tacea. Their ~esh IS eaten • their ink is employed m pamtmg, and the Indian, or China'ink is supposed to be made from it(l ). . . . The Cephalopoda comprise but a single order, which IS di· vided into genera, according to the nature of ~he shel~. Those which have no external shell, accordmg to L1nnreus, formed but the single genus, SEPIA, Lin.(2) Which is now divided as follows: OcToPus, Lam.-Polypus of the ancients. But two small conical granules of a horny substance, on the two sides, of the thickness of the back; the sac, having no fins, resembl~s an oval purse; eight feet, all of which are about equal, very largem proportion to the body, and united at base by a membrane; .t~ey a.re employed by the animal in swimming, crawling, and se1zmg 115 prey. The length and strength of these limbs render them fearful weapons, which it twines round animals; in this way it has ~ven de· strayed men while bathing. The eyes are small in proportion, and the skin contracts over them so tightly as to cover them entirely at (1) M. A b. Uemusat, however, can find nothing in the authors of China which confirms this idea. ( 2) M. de Blainville makes an order of them, which he calls the CnYPTODillli.AN· C:BUT.l. CEPHALOPODA. 309 the will of the animal. The receptacle of the ink is seated in the liver; the glands of the ovi~ucts are small. Some of them PoLYPus, Aristotle, Have two alternate rows of cups along each foot. The common species, Sepia octopodia, Lin., with a slightly rough skin, arms six times the length of its body, and furnished with one hundred and twenty pairs of cups, infests the coast of Europe in summer and destroys immense numbers of Fishes and Crustacea. The seas of hot climates produce another, Sepia rugosa, Bose.; Scb., III, ii, 2, 3, whose body is rougher; arms somewhat longer than the body, and furnished with ninety pairs of cups. It is from this species that some authors suppose the Indian Ink is procured. Others again, ELEDoN, Aristotle, Have but a single row of cups along each foot. One of them, the Poulpe musque, Lam., Mem. de Ia Soc. d'Hist. Nat. 4to, pl. ii; Rondelet, 516(1), is found in the Mediterranean, which is remarkable for its musky odour. ARGONAUTA, Lin. Octopi with two rows of cups, the pair of feet which are nearest to the back being dilated at the extremity into a broad membrane. The two cartilaginous granules of the common Octopus are wanting, but these Mollusca are always found in a very thin shell, symmetrically fluted and spirally convoluted, the last whorl so large that it bears some resemblance to a galley of which the spine is the poop. The animal makes a consequent use of it, and in calm weather whole fleets of them may be observed navigating the surface of the ocean, employing six of their tentacula as oars, and elevating the two membranous ones by way of a sail. If the sea becomes rough, or they perceive any danger, the Argonaut withdraws all its arms, concentrates itself in its shell, and descends to the bottom. The body of the animal does not penetrate to the bottom of the spires of the shell, and it appears that it does not adhere to it, at least, there is no muscular attachment, a circumstance which has induced some authors to believe, that its residence there (1) Add the Poulpe cirrlteux, Lam., Joe. cit., pl. i, f. 2, and, in general, several new species of the whole genus Sepia, which will shortly be published by M. de Ferussac. \ |
