Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 14.djvu/366

352 When a crustacean casts a limb from its junction with the body, it is after a time reproduced; if injured below this point, it has no recuperative power. But our "devil-fish," which really seems favored beyond its deserts, will reproduce any injured portion of its arms, at whatever point they may have been severed; of the numerous specimens which have been scientifically examined, many showed that one, two, or more arms have been either repaired or reproduced; and some of the female specimens have shown a loss of the whole eight arms, but all more or less restored.



Another kind of exuviæ observed with the octopods is the outer skin of their long limbs, which they not infrequently shed. These cast-off skins float upon the water, and are one of the indications which lead to the discovery of their retreats. When the outer skin becomes too tight for the growing animal, or is worn too smooth by frequent contact with the rocks, the creature may be seen rubbing its arms against each other as if they were undergoing a scrubbing or cleansing process, and soon these thin, filmy skins may be seen floating away on the surface of the water.

At certain periods there appears in the male octopus what is called the hectocotylus development in one of the arms. When this gentleman would a-wooing go, as Mr. Lee says in his valuable little book on this subject, and "he offers his hand in marriage to a lady octopus, she accepts it most literally, keeps it, and walks away with it; for this singular outgrowth is detached from the arm of the suitor, and becomes a separate living creature," specimens of which have been preserved in the Museum of Natural History in Paris. This hectocotylized arm is afterward reproduced in the male.

It is surprising with what care the female watches over the development of the eggs. Having selected a snug retreat in the rocks, she will barricade it by dragging to the entrance other portions of rock, or perhaps a pile of oysters—anything out of which she can make a strong breastwork or line of defense; and then she sits on guard ready to attack any intruder, even though it be her own mate. The eggs when first laid are about the size of grains of rice, and are arranged upon a