Chapter XVI.

1. The malacia produce a white ovum after sexual intercourse; in the course of time this becomes sandy, like that of the testacea. The polypus deposits its ova in holes or pots, or any other hollow place; the ovum is like bunches of the wild vine and of the white poplar, as was observed before; when the ova are produced they remain suspended from the hole in which they were deposited; and the ova are so numerous, that when taken out they will fill a vessel much larger than the head of the polypus in which they were contained.

2. About fifty days afterwards the young polypi burst the eggs and escape, like phalangia, in great numbers. The particular shape of each limb is not distinct, though the general form is plain. Many of them perish from their small size and debility. Some have been observed so small that they could not be distinguished, unless they were touched, when they were seen to move.

3. The sepia also deposits eggs, which resemble large, black, myrtle seeds. They are united together like a bunch of fruit, and are enclosed in a substance which prevents them from separating readily. The male emits his ink upon them, a mucous fluid, which causes their slippery appearance. The ova increase in this way; and when first produced they are white, but when they have touched the ink they become large and black. When the young sepia, which is entirely formed of the internal white of the ovum, is produced, it makes its way out by the rupture of the membrane of the ovum.

4. The ovum which the female first produces is like hail, and to this the young sepia is attached by the head, as birds are attached to the abdomen. The nature of the umbilical attachment has never been observed, except that as the sepia increases the white always becomes less, and at last entirely disappears, like the yolk of the eggs of birds.

5. The eyes are at first very large in these as in other animals, as in the diagram. The ovum is seen at A, the eyes at B and C, and the embryo sepia itself at D. The female contains ova during the spring. The ova are produced in fifteen days; and when the ova are produced they remain for fifteen days longer like the small seeds of grapes, and when these are ruptured the young sepias escape from the inside. If a person divides them before they have reached maturity, the young sepias emit their fœces and vary in colour, and turn from white to red from alarm.

6. The crustaceans incubate upon their ova, which are placed beneath them; but the polypus and sepia and such like incubate upon their ova wherever they may be deposited, and especially the sepia, for the female has often been observed with her abdomen upon the ground, but the female polypus has been observed sometimes placed upon her ova, and sometimes upon her mouth, holding with her tentacula over the hole in which the ova were deposited. The sepia deposits her ova upon the ground among fuci and reeds, or upon any thing thrown in the water, as wood, branches, or stones; and the fishermen are careful to place branches of trees in the water. Upon these they deposit their long and united ova like branches of fruit.

7. The ova are deposited and produced by repeated exertion, as if the parturition were accompanied with pain. The teuthis oviposits in the sea. The ova, like those of the sepia, are united together. Both the teuthus and sepia are short-lived, for very few of them survive a year. The same is the case with the polypus. Each egg produces one small sepia, and so also in the teuthis. The male teuthus differs from the female; for if the hair (branchia) are drawn aside, the female will be seen to have two red substances like mammæ, which the male does not possess. The sepia also has the same sexual distinction, and is more variegated than the female, as I observed before.