The “ink” which the cuttle-fish has the power of ejecting when alarmed, for the purpose of obscuring the water and hiding its own retreat, was formerly used in writing. Cicero mentions this use of it, and from it is also made the true “sepia” of artists. I have more than once lately seen it stated that the ink of the cuttle-fish is no longer employed for this purpose, and that “sepia” is now prepared from lamp-black. A great deal of rubbish of this kind is probably sold; but I have recently seen at Messrs. Newman’s, the well-known artists’ colourmen, in Soho Square, thousands of the ink-bags of cuttles in the raw state, ready to be manufactured into “sepia.” The fishermen of some of our southern counties, when cleaning cuttles and squids for bait, habitually dry the ink-bags and their contents, and preserve them until Messrs. Newman’s agent visits the district and collects them. If the Newfoundland fishermen, when “squid-jigging,” would take the trouble to preserve the ink-bags, they would find a ready sale for them, and might make of them a profitable perquisite. The beautiful drawings with which Cuvier illustrated his “Anatomy of the Mollusca” were executed with the ink which he had collected whilst dissecting many specimens of the cephalopoda; and it is well known that fossil cuttle-fishes have been found with the ink-bag perfect, and that from its contents excellent “sepia” has been obtained. Some of these ink-bags found in the lias, associated with traces of the “pen” or inner shell, are nearly twelve inches long, and must have belonged to calamaries of gigantic size. It is an oft-told anecdote that the late Dr. Buckland gave some of this fossil ink to Sir Francis Chantrey, who pronounced it to be of unusually good quality, and with it made a drawing of the specimen from which it was taken. This drawing is now in the possession of Dean Buckland’s son and Sir Francis’s godson, my friend Frank Buckland. I have also seen a cake of fossil sepia prepared by Messrs. Newman for Professor Dick, of Cambridge, about the year 1850, which rubs as smoothly, and is as rich in colour, as that manufactured from the ink of recent cuttle-fishes. CHAPTER X. GIGANTIC CUTTLE-FISHES.