The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: space of a foot around. Besides this means of defence, an
acrid secretion, which is spread over its body, causes a
sharp, stinging sensation, similar to that produced by the
Physalia, or Portuguese man-of-war.
I was much interested, on several occasions, by watching
the habits of an Octopus, or cuttle-fish. Although common
in the pools of water left by the retiring tide, these animals
were not easily caught. By means of their long arms and
suckers, they could drag their bodies into very narrow crevices;
and when thus fixed, it required great force to remove
them. At other times they darted tail first, with the rapidity
The Voyage of the Beagle |