Polypus

“ Since therefore the bag of our Polypus is found in the same situation as that of the Calamary, (which is also a kind of Polypus) we may suppose it to be the milt bag, and that our Polypus is a male, taken at a time when the milt was ready for ejection. In the dried specimen at the British Museum, and also in the other specimens, there is the same opening, with the pipe that rises above it towards the arms, but not the least appearance of the bag in question: they are therefore probably females, or if males, were caught before such bag was formed. ”

“ By these suckers the Polypus can fix itself to rocks, and prevent its being tossed about in storms and tempests; but their principal use must undoubtedly be to seize and hold its prey: and to this purpose they are most admirably adapted; for when they are all applied and act together, unless the Polypus pleases to withdraw them, nothing can get from it whose strength is insufficient to tear off its arms. ”

“ Those who have attended to the habits of the polypus, which is found in the stagnant water of our ditches in July, affirm, that the young ones branch out from the side of the parent like the buds of trees, and after a time separate themselves from them. This is so analogous to the manner in which the buds of trees appear to be produced, that these polypi may be considered as all male animals, producing embryons, which require no mother to supply them with a nidus, or with nutriment, and oxygenation. ”

“ Galen (Med. Sec. Loc. xii. 685) alludes to the method of extraction of polypus from the nose by means of a forceps (ἔπειτα λαβιδίῳ ἐξαίρει) , and from what Paul says it would [Pg 94] seem that there was a special polypus instrument, consisting of a forceps at one end and a rugine at the other. After describing extraction by means of a knife and scoop he says:
‘If, however, any part of the tumour be left behind, we take another polypus eradicator (ἕτερον πολυποξύστην) , and with the end of it (ἐπάκμου αὐτοῦ ξυστηρίου) bring away what remains, by stretching, twisting, and scraping it strongly.’ ”

“ All the malacia, as the polypus, sepia, and teuthis, approach each other in the same manner, for they are united mouth to mouth; the tentacula of one sex being adapted to those of the other; for when the polypus has fixed the part called the head upon the ground, it extends its tentacula, which the other adapts to the expansion of its tentacula, and they make their acetabula answer together. And some persons say that the male has an organ like a penis in that one of its tentacula which contains the two largest acetabula. ”

“ Next day, the Polypus that resulted, eat. It has continued well these two months since the operation: it is grown, and has put forth young ones from each of the parts of which it was formed. The two foregoing experiments do not always succeed; it often happens, that the two parts will not join again.
'In order to comprehend the experiment I am now going to speak of, one should recollect, that the whole body of a Polypus forms only one pipe, a sort of gut, or pouch. ”

“ It is evident from what has been said, that the Sea Polypus must be terrible to the inhabitants of the waters, in proportion to its size (and Pliny mentions one whose arms were thirty feet in length) ; for the close embraces of its arms and the adhesion of its suckers must render the efforts of its prey ineffectual either for resistance or escape, unless it be endued with an extraordinary degree of strength. ”

“ Diocles, in the first book of his treatise on Wholesome Things, says—"The molluscous fish are calculated to give pleasure, and to excite the amorous propensities; especially the polypi (οἱ πολύποδες) ." And Aristotle relates that the polypus has eight feet, of which the two highest and the two lowest are the smallest, and those in the middle are the largest; and they have also two feelers, with which they bring their food to their mouth. And they have their eyes placed above their two upper feet; and their mouth and teeth are between their feet. ”

“ While the polypus, who is their companion in their former state of life, not being allowed to change his form and element, can only propagate like vegetable buds by the same kind of irritative motions, which produces the growth of his own body, without the seminal or amatorial propagation, which requires sensation ”

“ Then each half-pipe becomes a whole one complete: a stomach is formed, in which nothing is wanting; and out of each half-mouth a whole one is formed also.
'I have seen all this done in less than an hour; and that the Polypus produced from each of those halves, at the end of that time, did not differ from the whole ones, except that it had fewer arms; but in a few days more grew out.
'I have cut a Polypus lengthways, between seven and eight in the morning; and between two and three in the afternoon, each of the parts has been able to eat a worm as long as itself. ”

“ Trembly first observed the polypus, he employed a considerable time before he could determine whether it was an animal or a plant; and possibly from this reason that it is perhaps neither one nor the other, and all that can be said is, that it approaches nearest to an animal; and as we suppose every living thing must be either an animal or a plant, we do not credit the existence of an organized being, that cannot be referred to one of those general names; whereas there must, and in fact are, a great number of organized beings which are neither the one nor the other. ”

“ The polypus has a sort of passage in the back,2525 by which it lets in and discharges the water, and which418 it shifts from side to side, sometimes carrying it on the right, and sometimes on the left. It swims obliquely,2526 with the head on one side, which is of surprising hardness while the animal is alive, being puffed out with air.2527 In addition to this, they have cavities2528 dispersed throughout the claws, by means of which, through suction, they can adhere to objects; which they hold, with the head upwards, so tightly, that they cannot be torn away. ”

“ They are voracious animals; their Πεή are so many snares which they set for numbers of small insects. As soon as any of them touches one of the Πεή, it is caught.'
But then it differs from the Polypus in the consequence; for instead of making the insect its prey, it becomes itself a prey to it, and instead of conveying an insect twice as large as its own mouth into it, in imitation of the Polypus, the poor Chrysipus is itself conveyed into the Loculus or pouch of an insect a thousand times as large as itself. ”

“ It is, however, natural to consider a polypus, furnished with a mouth, intestines, and other organs, as a distinct individual, whereas the individuality of a leaf-bud is not easily realised; so that the union of separate individuals in a common body is more striking in a coralline than in a tree. ”

“ In the sæpia,2519 the male is parti-coloured, blacker than the female, and more courageous. If the female is struck with a fish-spear, the male comes to her aid; but the female, the instant the male is struck, takes to flight. Both of them, as soon as ever they find themselves in danger of being caught. discharge2520 a kind of ink, which with them is in place of blood,2521 and thus darkening the water, take to flight.
CHAP. 46.—THE POLYPUS.
There are numerous kinds of polypi. The land2522 polypus is larger than that of the sea; they all of them use their arms2523 as feet and hands ”

“ There is the polypus, that singular product of Nature, which, regarded in one light, performs all the functions of animal life, whilst, when regarded in another, it has the ordinary attributes of a plant ”

“ But, in his book on Animals and their Properties, Aristotle says that the polypus, the osmylus, the eledone, the cuttle-fish, and the squid, are all molluscous. Epicharmus, in his Hebe's Wedding, says—
A polypus, a cuttle-fish, and quickly-moving squid,
A foul-smelling bolbitine, and chattering old woman.
And Archestratus says—
The Carian and the Thasian polypi
Are far the best; Corcyra too can breed
Fish of large size and very numerous.
But the Dorians spell the word with an ω, πωλύπους; as, for instance, Epicharmus. Simonides too has the expression, πώλυπον διζήμενος. ”

“ Shell-fish are destitute of sight, as well as of all other sensations but those which warn them of hunger and the approach of danger. Hence the polypus lies in ambush till the fish opens its shell, immediately upon which, it places within it a small pebble, taking care, at the same time, to keep it from touching the body of the animal, lest, by making some movement, it should chance to eject it. ”

“ These creatures never emit all their ink, and as soon as it is emitted it is secreted again. But the sepia, as it has already been remarked, makes use of its ink for the purposes of concealment, and when it pretends to advance, it returns into its ink. With its long extended tentacula it not only pursues small fish, but frequently attacks the cestreus. The polypus is a foolish creature, for it will approach a man's hand if brought near it. ”

“ There are many kinds of polypus; one, which is the largest of all, is very common. Those near land are larger than those which are caught out at sea. There are smaller kinds, which are variegated; these are not articles of food ”

“ They also say that the small and young ones will not endure this, and that they are stronger than the large ones. The sepia also only lives one year; the polypus is the only one of the malacia that ever ventures upon dry land, it advances upon a rough surface, but avoids smooth places. In other respects, it is a strong animal, but its neck, if pressed, becomes very weak. ”

“ The males become hard and shining. This appears to be a proof that they do not survive a year, that in the summer and autumn, after the production of the young, it is difficult to find a large polypus, though large ones were abundant a short time before; when they have produced their ova, they say that both sexes grow old and become [Pg 258] so weak, that they are devoured by small fish, and are easily dragged out of their holes, though before they would have permitted nothing of the kind. ”

“ By this action, the highly elastic axis must be bent at the lower extremity, where it is naturally slightly curved; and I imagine it is by this elasticity alone that the zoophyte is enabled to rise again through the mud. Each polypus, though closely united to its brethren, has a distinct mouth, body, and tentacula. Of these polypi, in a large specimen, there must be many thousands; yet we see that they act by one movement: they have also one central axis connected with a system of obscure circulation, and the ova are produced in an organ distinct from the separate individuals. ”

“ If any of the young polypi be mutilated while growing upon the body of the parent, the parts cut off will immediately grow again; and even if the polypus be dispossessed of its extremities, it will produce young ones before it has attained head or tail. The sea-anemone is very beautiful when alive. It is of a most lovely purple, and throws out its numerous feelers like radii from the centre; these feelers it can contract or expand at pleasure. ”

“ It is also said that the male has something corresponding to the parts of generation in one of his arms, in which there are his two large feelers; and that it is a limb full of nerves, sticking to the arm all along as far as the middle. But, in the fifth book of his treatise on the Parts of Animals, Aristotle says—"The polypus propagates his species in the winter, and brings forth in the spring ”

“ A polypus located at the junction of the nasal passages and throat by force of gravity always causes obstruction to the lower nasal cavity when lying down. Polypi often attain considerable size and by pressure upon and displacement of the surrounding structures occasion hideous facial deformity. ”

“ The Nautili are called testaceous cephalopods, our readers know, or ought to know, the meaning of both these terms. Like the Cuttle-fish they are sometimes called Polypi, because they have many arms or tentacles, the word poly, with which a great number of English words commence, being the Greek for many. An ancient writer named Aristotle, after describing the naked cephalopods, says, “There are also two polypi in shells; one is called by some, nautilus, and by others, nauticus. It is like the polypus, but its shell resembles a hollow comb or pecten, and is not attached. ”

“ As when a polypus (πουλύποδος in the genitive) is dragged from out his lair:
[Pg 497]
FISH.
keeping the analogy to the noun ποὺς, from which it is derived. But in the accusative case we find the form πολύπουν, just as we find Ἀλκίνουν and Οἰδίπουν. Æschylus, too, has the form τρίπουν, as an epithet of a caldron, in his Athamas, from ποὺς, as if it were a simple noun like νοῦς. But the form πώλυπος is Æolic. For the Attics always say πολύπους. Aristophanes, in his Dædalus, says—
When then I had this polypus (πουλύπους) and cuttle-fish. ”

“ The polypus, or eight-armed sepia, has been described by Plinius, Galen, Cicero, Diocles, Athenæus and other ancient writers. The ancients praise it as a food and attribute to the polypus the power of restoring lost vitality: molli carne pisces, & suaves gustu sunt, & ad venerem conferunt—Diocles.
Wanting in the Vat. Ms.
[2] Wanting in List. and G.-V. Ex Tor. p. 100.
[213]
VI OYSTERS IN OSTREIS
[410] OYSTERS [1] IN OSTREIS
TO OYSTERS WHICH WANT TO BE WELL SEASONED ADD [2] PEPPER, LOVAGE, YOLKS, VINEGAR, BROTH, OIL, AND WINE; IF YOU WISH ALSO ADD HONEY [3] . ”