TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been placed at the end of the book. The tables in this book are best viewed using a monospace font. Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book. THE OCTOPUS; OR, THE “DEVIL-FISH” OF FICTION AND OF FACT. [Illustration: THE OCTOPUS (_Octopus vulgaris._)] _AQUARIUM NOTES._ THE OCTOPUS; OR, THE “DEVIL-FISH” OF FICTION AND OF FACT. BY HENRY LEE, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.Z.S., &c., NATURALIST Of THE BRIGHTON AQUARIUM. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 1875. LONDON: BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. I Dedicate this little Book TO MY VENERABLE FRIEND, DR. JAMES SCOTT BOWERBANK, F.R.S., &c., ONE OF THE ORIGINATORS OF THE WATER VIVARIUM; TO WHOSE VALUABLE ADVICE AND CHEERING ENCOURAGEMENT I, LIKE MANY OTHERS, AM INDEBTED FOR THE CONFIRMATION AND INCREASE OF AN EARLY LOVE OF THE STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. H. L. PREFACE. When I accepted the position of Naturalist of the Brighton Aquarium, after the death of my valued friend John Keast Lord, it became my pleasant duty to watch and record events and circumstances connected with the habits and development of the denizens of the tanks. My notes of observations have, from time to time, appeared in the Natural History columns of _Land and Water_, and have been honoured by frequent quotation in the _Times_ and other newspapers. Grateful for the kind reception accorded to them in their original form, I re-publish them with considerable additions. They have, in fact, been almost entirely re-written. I venture to hope that they may be interesting to the public, and of some little value to science. I have always endeavoured to observe carefully, to describe faithfully, to record facts rather than to propound theories, and to relate what I have seen and learned in language comprehensible by all.