Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1870-01-28
THE CUTTLE.FISH.

4 -" L. ~ AeAtt1 III AlA1 AAdAAEE Oh NfUl-
tle-Fizhes' in The 4merican Naturalist.
describes his encounter with one of these
octopods on the coast of Brazil, which wound
its long arms, covered with numerous suck.
ers around his hands in such way as 10
bold him prisoner for short time. On re-
linquishing its hold it dropped on the sand,
and, using its long slimy arms as legs, made
its way toward the water, looking like huge
and very tipsy spider The cutfle-fsh be-
longs to the mollusks, branch Of the AMI
NAL kingdom, distinguished for its mem
bers being built upon the plan of sac, and
to which Mr.. Hyatt has applied the more
/ appropriate name of Saccata 1t is distin-
guished from all other mollusks, such as
snails, clans, &c, by having a very large
head, a pair Of large eyes, and mouth fur
nished with pair of jaws around which
are arranged, in a circle, eight or ten arms
furnished with suckers. In the common
cutie fish or squid of our coast, the body,
which is long and narrow, is wrapped in a
muscular cloak or mantle, ike bag, fitting
tightly to the back. but loose in front. It is
closed up to the neck, where it is open ike
a loosely fitting oyercoat buttoned up TO the
throat. Attached to its throat, By the mid
die, is a short tube, open at both ends
This tube or syphon can be moved about in
any direction. The animal brcathes BY
means of glls, which are attached to the
front of the body, inside the cloak, and look
Ike the ruffles Of shirt bosom. BY means
of these gills the air contained in the water
is breathe1, and they answer the same pur-
| pose for the cuttle-fsh that cur lungs do
/ for US. 10 order to swim, the animal swells
out the cloak in front, SO that the water
flows in between it aud the body. Then It
closes the cloak tightly about the neck, so
| that the only way the water can get out is
through the syphon Then it contracts
/ forciblg its coat, and the water is driven out
in a jet from the syphon, and the body is
propelled in an opposite direction like a
rocket through the water. This syphon is
flexible, ike water hose, and can be bent
so as to direct the stream not only forward.
but sideways, and backwards, SO that the
animal can move in almost any direction,
and turn summersaults with perfect ease;
and so rapidly do some cuttle-fshes swim,
that they are able to make long leaps out Of
the water Usually, however, the animal
swims backward, with its long arms trailing
behind. Our common cutie fish of this
coast has, in addition to its eight arms, two
long slender tentacles, which may be with
| drawn into the body The tail is pointed
and furnished with fin ou each side. The
| octop0ds to which the Brazlian cutie fish
belongs, have round purse-like bodies, aud
eight arms united at the base with a web,
and they swim by opening and shutting
/ their arms like an umbrella; in this mode OF
| swimming they resemble the Jelly fishes
/ The paper nautilus is nothing in the world
but female cuttle-fsh that builds a shell.
There was very pretty story told Of her
/ habits by Aristotle, the old Greek natural
| ist, which everybody believed until quite
lately. He said she rode on the top Of the
waves, seated IN her boathke shell, and
spreading her broad arms to the winds for
/ sails. But, unfortunately, the story has no
/ foundation in fact. She either crawls about
on the bottom of the sea, or swims quite
/ ike other cutie fish, shell foremost, only
occasionally coming to the surface. Strange
" enough, she holds the two broad, hand
/ like extremities of the arms against her
/ body, and it is the inside of these arms that
secrete the paperhke schell. which is only
a sort of cradle for her eggs. Not so with
! the pearly nautilus, which is furnished with
a beautiful eoiledup, pearly shell, formed
on the outside Of the animal The shell is
divided into numerous chambers, and the
animal living in the outer one, builds par
tition across the back part of it as the shell
grows Cutie fish are sometimes used for
| food by the Brazilians, and different species
may be seen in the markets, where one fre
duently finds them still alive Sometimes
as We stoop to examine one, its body is sud
denly sufustd with deep pinkish glow.
/ Before we have time to recover our sur
prise this color fades, ard a beautiful blue
takes its place as rapidly as blush some
times suffuses a delicate cheek The blue
perhaps. is succeeded by a green, and ther
| the whole body becomes pink again. One
can hardly conceive anything more beauti
full than this rapid play of colors, which j:
produced by the successive distention o.
sets of little sacks containing fluids Of differ
ent colors which are situated under the skin
The cutie fish is also furnished with bal
containing an inky fluid, which, when the
animal IS attacked or pursued, it elects into
the water, thus completely binding its ad
ver-ary and efFectually Governing lis retreat
1t Is from this fluid that the color Sapia i
made. Beside carrying an ink- bottle SOM
species of cuttle-fsh are provided with
long, delicate, horny pen, which forms
sort Of stiffener to the back In some spe
eies the pen is hard, thick, and broad, ant
the cutie fish bone Of commerce is Of thi
kind. The species found in our waters i
very small, and not at all dangerous, beinl
barely large enough to draw blood from tn
hand; but in the tropical seas they are yer.
large, powerful, and dangerous. The cut
tle-fsh is the original of Victor Hugo's dey
il-fsh, so vividly described in the "Toiler
of the Sea. If the deviLfsh were bene
fetal one, Mr.. Hart says he should be sorr
to destroy orr faith in it, but as it is, he be
lieyes it will be rather relief than other
wise to know that in some important re:
poets Victor Hngo's story Of it is fable
The Kraken was mythical euttle-fsh {
, fabulous size.
--~as~ ~s~--=z---
We often suffer ourselves to he put out
all our bearings BY misfortune, not Of Il
most serious kind, which, looks very blac
a / as tha ti,na hu+ Tvhiah fraru ifS nature cal