The royal natural history (1893) (14758439606)

Common Octopus
Identifier: royalnaturalhist612lyde (find matches)
Title: The royal natural history
Year: 1893 (1890s)
Authors: Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915 Sclater, Philip Lutley, 1829-1913 Frostick, W. B., former owner. DSI Brooks, W. T., former owner. DSI
Subjects: Zoology Natural history
Publisher: London and New York : Frederick Warne & Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries



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ity of seeingthe unsightly octopus in its native element. An unpleasant, forbidding creatureit is, contracting and swelling, or looking like a shapeless but living mass. Weobserve the eight tapering arms, with the two rows of suckers along the innerside of each, numbering: about two thousand altogether in some individuals. Wenote the two staring eyes which seem ever on the watch, the funnel often exposedto view, and the mottled skin. About ninety species of octopus are known, which CEPHALOPODS. \29 occur in all seas. Variations in colour, the relative length of the arms, the sizeof the suckers, and the character of the hectocotylised or modified arm of the male,are among the distinguishing features of the species. Although we usually speakof the octopods as shell-less or naked molluscs, an indication of an internal shellis present, in the form of two short styles, embedded in the tissues of the mantle.These molluscs are solitary creatures when adult, but they are said to herd together
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COMMON OCTOPUS. in small companies when young. They live in the fissures of rocks, or hide awaybeneath great boulders. When they walk or creep, they elevate the sack-likebody above the head, and progress slowly upon the extremities of the arms, whichare a little curved near the tip. They can creep in any direction, but they prefera side-way movement. On the contrary, if their progress in walking is com-paratively slow, this is compensated by the rapidity of their movements whenswimming. Body foremost, with the arms stretched beyond the head, they dart 33o MOLLUSCS. backward with great rapidity, being propelled by the successive expulsions ofwater through the funnel. The arms are also made use of in swimming, andthose which are provided with an extensive connecting web are the most effectiveswimmers. None of the octopods ever attain such enormous dimensions as someof the decopods, still some would be very dangerous foes to cope with beneath thewater. Mr. J. K. Lord saw the arm of an oc