The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-21

err fish, but makes several miles day.
The "octupus vulgaris'-the devil
fish of the ancients which is so often
alluded to by Mr.. Bryan and other
Populist orators-is very common here.
Examples are hauled up in the nets
every day. 1t is the guerrilla of fishes.
1t hides itself in ambush in the crevices
of the rocks and waits for its prey, and
often piles up stones into a heap, be-
hind which it conceals itself until it
can pounce upon unwary and innocent
fishes that pass by. Tht octupus also
has the power of changing its color
and producing all sorts of warts and
wrinkles upon its otherwise smooth skin,
so as to deceive its neighbors. These
traits of character are not commend
able.
The body of the octupus looks like a
round bag and contains its vital or
gans. At one end it has head like
that of a toad, with two large inquir-
ing eyes and branching out from var
ious parts of the body are eight arms
united at their base by a web similar
to that in the foot of a duck. Each
arm has two rows of suckers. Hidden
by the arms and in the middle of the
body is the mouth, furnished with
pair of powerful jaws and a membran-
Gus flap which alternately opens and
shuts. The arms are used for swim
ming, crawling, climbing and for
catching other animate objects which
are caught by it's suckers, carried to
the mouth by means of the arms and
are quickly killed and digested by a
poisonous fluid secreted in the salivary
glands.
A near relation of the octupus is the
sepia or cuttlefish, which has arms
much shorter than those of the octu-
pus. but they do business very much
in the same way. The chief charac-
teristic of the cuttlefish are it's ability
to hide itself and to change it's color
at will, and in the transparent water
of the bay of Naples the wonderful play
of tints in the living animal is very
much admired. This change in color
is due to large cells in the skin which
are filled with fluids. AS the cells con-
tract and grow lighter or darker like
the blush upon the cheek of a maiden,
and give the animal an opalescent tint.
Sometimes it looks like a floating opal.
Another characteristic is a sac fill
ed with a black fluid known as sepia,
which can be discharged instantly in
to the water. A small quantity will
create a black cloud sufficient to en-
velop the animal and allow it to es-
cape from its pursuer. This ink is
1t is the sepia with which pictures are
painted. The cuttlefislh is quite an
article of commerce in Naples, foR in
addition to the sepia, the backbone is
used for polishing wood, as a tooth
powder and for sharpening the bills
of canary birds.
Both the cuttlefish and the octopus
grow to large size and many horrify-
ing legends are told of them. Pliny
e.I,fa egta of a1fff lafi IN
his time used to brighten the fisher
men around Naples. Tt was after
ward killed and the head, which was
taken to Lucullus, the great Roman
general, was large enough to hold
fifteen barrels of wine, and its arms
were so thick that no man could clasp
them. They measured thirty feet in
length, and the suckers each contain
ed as much water as would fill an
urn" Montfort tells of an octupus
that tore a couple of sailors from the
rigging of ship near st. Helena, and
the old fishermen about Naples have
many interesting yarns concerning
their own experiences with these two
curious animals.
The torpedo ocellata" is fish
charged with electricity, although the
shock is not so strong as that given
by the electric eel found in the ORR
South American rivers. 1t belongs to
the shark family and is one of the
commonest fish in the Bay of Naples.
Its body is circular in shape, and at
full growth is about eight inches in
diameter. 1t looks like an exaggerated
tadpole. There are five big eyes in
the middle of it's back and the mouth,
like that of a shark, is set near the
middle of the body. The electric or
gans," as they are called, resemble
lungs, being composed of a gelatinous
substance supplied by innumerable
branching nerves. which give a short
and strong electric current when the
animal is irritated, but to experience
the shock the fish must be touched at
the same time on both sides by the
same person.
There are many other remarkable
fish in the Bay of Naples, and the
plant life is even more curious and in
I1w~e TO-