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CUTTACK

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 675 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CUTTACK , a See also:

city and See also:district of See also:British See also:India in the See also:Orissa See also:division of See also:Bengal. The city is situated at the See also:head of the See also:delta of the See also:Mahanadi. Pop. (See also:loot) 51,364. It is the centre of the Orissa See also:canal See also:system, and an important station on the See also:East See also:Coast railway from See also:Madras to See also:Calcutta. It contains the See also:government See also:college, named after. Mr Ravenshaw, a former See also:commissioner; a high school, a training school, a survey school, a medical school and a See also:law school. The city formed one of the five royal strong-holds of See also:ancient Orissa and was founded by a warlike See also:Hindu See also:prince, Makar Kesari, who reigned from 953 to 961. Native See also:kings protected it from the See also:rivers by a See also:masonry See also:embankment several See also:miles See also:long, built of enormous blocks of hewn See also:stone, and in some places 25 ft. high. A fortress defended the See also:north-See also:west corner of the See also:town, and was captured by the See also:English from the See also:Mahrattas in See also:October 1803. It is now abandoned as a See also:place of See also:defence. The DISTRICT OF CUTTACK lies in the centre of Orissa, occupying the deltas of the Mahanadi and Brahmani, together with a hilly See also:tract inland.

Its See also:

area is 3654 sq. m. It consists of three See also:physical divisions: first, a marshy woodland See also:strip along the coast, from 3 to 30 M. in breadth; second, an intermediate stretch of See also:rice plains; third, a broken hilly region, which forms the western boundary of the district. The marshy strip along the coast is covered with swamps and See also:malaria-breeding jungles. Towards the See also:sea the solid See also:land gives place to a vast network of streams and creeks, whose sluggish See also:waters are constantly depositing silt, and forming morasses or quicksands. Cultivation does not begin till the limits of this See also:dismal region are passed. The inter-mediate rice plains stretch inland for about 40 M. and occupy the older See also:part of the delta between the sea-coast strip and the hilly frontier. They are intersected by three large rivers, the Baitarani, Brahmani and Mahanadi. These issue in magnificent. streams through three See also:gorges in the frontier hills. The Cuttack delta is divided into two See also:great valleys, one of them lying between the Baitarani and the Brahmani, the other between the Brahmani and the Mahanadi. The rivers having, by the silt of ages, gradually raised their beds, now run along high levels. During floods they pour over their See also:banks upon the surrounding valleys, by a thousand channels which interlace and establish communication between the See also:main streams. After numerous bifurcations they find their way into the sea by three See also:principal mouths.

Silt-banks and surf-washed bars render the entrance to these rivers perilous. The best See also:

harbour in Cuttack district is at False Point, on the north of the Mahanadi See also:estuary. It consists of an anchorage, land-locked by islands or See also:sand-banks, and with two See also:fair channels navigable towards the land. The See also:famine commissioners in 1867 reported it to be the best harbour on the coast of India from the See also:Hugli to Bombay. The intermediate tract is a region of See also:rich cultivation, dotted with great See also:banyan trees, thickets of bamboos, exquisite See also:palm foliage and See also:mango groves. The hilly frontier separates the delta of British Orissa from the semi-See also:independent tributary states. It consists of a See also:series of ranges, so to 15 m. in length, See also:running nearly due east and west, with densely-wooded slopes and lovely valleys between. The See also:timber, however, is small, and is of little value except as See also:fuel. The See also:political See also:character of these three tracts is as distinct as are their natural features. The first and third are still occupied by feudal chiefs, and have never been subjected to a See also:regular land-See also:settlement, by either the Mussulman or the British government. They pay a See also:light fixed See also:tribute. The intermediate rice plains, known as the Mogholbandi, from their having been regularly settled by the Mahommedans, have yielded to the successive dynasties and conquerors of Orissa almost the whole of the revenues derived from the See also:province.

The deltaic portions are of course a dead level; and the highest hills within the district in the western or frontier tract do not exceed 2500 ft. They are steep, and covered with See also:

jungle, but can be climbed by men. The most interesting of them are the Assa range, with its See also:sandal trees and Buddhist remains; Udayagiri (Sunrise-See also:hill), with its See also:colossal See also:image of See also:Buddha, sacred See also:reservoir, and ruins; and Assagiri, with its See also:mosque of 1719. The Mahavinayaka See also:peak, visible from Cuttack, has been consecrated for ages to See also:Siva-See also:worship by ascetics and pilgrims. The See also:population of the district in 1901 was 2,062,758, showing an increase of 6% in the preceding See also:decade. The aboriginal tribes here, as elsewhere, cling to their mountains and jungles. They chiefly consist of the Bhumij, Tala, Kol and Savara peoples, the Savaras being by far the most numerous, numbering 14,775. They are regarded by the orthodox See also:Hindus as little better than the beasts of the wildernesses which they inhabit. Miserably poor, they subsist for the most part by selling firewood or other products of their jungle; but a few of .them have patches of cultivated land, and many See also:earn See also:wages as See also:day labourers to the Hindus. They occupy, in fact, an intermediate See also:stage of de- Rice forms the See also:staple product of the district; its three See also:chief varieties are biali or See also:early rice, sarad or See also:winter rice, and dalua or See also:spring rice. The other cereal crops consist of mandua (a grass-like plant producing a coarse See also:grain resembling rice), See also:wheat, See also:barley, and See also:china, a rice-like cereal. Suan, another rice-like cereal, not cultivated, grows spontaneously in the paddy See also:fields.

Pulses of different sorts, oilseeds, See also:

fibres, See also:sugar-See also:cane, See also:tobacco, spices and vegetables also See also:form crops of the district. The cultivators consist of two classes—the See also:resident husbandmen (than) and the non-resident or migratory husbandmen (palm). The Orissa canal system, which lies mainly within Cuttack district, is used both for See also:irrigation and transport purposes. The railway across the district towards Calcutta, a See also:branch of the Bengal-See also:Nagpur system, was opened in 1899. Considerable See also:trade is carried on at the mouth of the rivers along the coast. CUTTLE-See also:FISH. The more See also:familiar and conspicuous types of the molluscan class See also:Cephalopoda (q.v.) are popularly known in English as cuttle-fish, squid, See also:octopus and See also:nautilus. The first of these names (from the A.S. cudele) is applied more particularly to the See also:common See also:Sepia (fig. 1), characterized by its See also:internal calcareous See also:shell, sometimes known as cuttle-See also:bone, and its See also:ink-See also:sac, the contents of which have been long in use as a pigment (sepia). The See also:term squid is employed among fishermen for the ten-armed Cephalopods in which the shell is represented by an uncalcified flexible structure somewhat resembling a See also:pen. Hence in See also:Italian a squid is called calamaio, from calamus a See also:reed or pen, and in English the similar term calamary is sometimes used. Like the Sepia, squids also possess the ink-sac, whence they have some-times been called pen and ink fish, and in See also:German both Sepia and squid and their See also:allies are known as Tinten-fische.

The squids have generally softer and more watery tissues than the Sepia, but the former term is not in See also:

general use, and the distinction not generally understood. The term cuttle-fishes is sometimes extended to include all the Cephalopoda, but as the peculiarities of the remarkable shell of the true nautilus, and those of the shell-less Octopoda are widely known, we shall consider the name here as applying only to those forms which have ten arms, an ink-sac, an internal shell-rudiment, and only one pair of gills in the See also:mantle cavity. Technically these form the sub-See also:order Decapoda, of the order Dibranchia. The cuttle-fishes are characteristically See also:swimming animals, in contrast with the octopods, which creep about by means of their suckers among the rocks, and lurk in holes. In Sepia the integument is produced laterally into two See also:muscular fins, rather narrow and of See also:uniform breadth running the whole length of the See also:body, but separated by a notch behind. There are four pairs of See also:short non-retractile arms surrounding the mouth, and furnished with suckers on their oral See also:surface, and between the third and See also:fourth of these arms on each See also:side is a much longer tentacular See also:arm, which is usually kept entirely withdrawn into a See also:pocket of the skin. The mantle cavity is on the posterior side of the body, which is the See also:lower side in the swimming position, and the See also:funnel is a See also:tube open at both ends and connected with the body within the mouth of the mantle cavity. The mantle during See also:life performs regular See also:respiratory movements by which See also:water is See also:drawn into the cavity, passing between mantle and funnel, and is expelled through the funnel. In swimming the short arms are directed forwards, the fins undulate, and the See also:motion is slow and deliberate; but if the See also:animal is threatened or alarmed it swims suddenly and rapidly backwards by expelling water 12 forcibly from the mantle cavity through the funnel, at the same See also:time expelling a See also:cloud of ink from its ink-sac. The Sepia feeds principally on See also:Crustacea, and in aquaria has been observed to pursue and See also:capture prawns. The method in b which it secures its See also:prey has been carefully observed and de-scribed by the See also:present writer, who studied the living animal in the See also:aquarium of the biological laboratory at See also:Plymouth. The prawns support themselves on their long slender legs on convenient points of the rockwork, and the Sepia stalks them with great caution and determination, the rapid See also:play of its chromatophores giving See also:evidence of its excitement.

When it has arrived within striking distance, the two tentacular arms are shot out with great rapidity, and the See also:

prawn is seized between the two See also:expanded ends, drawn within the circle of short arms, and devoured; unless, as sometimes happens, the prawn springs away and the Sepia misses its aim. Two See also:species of Sepia occur in British and See also:European waters, including the Mediterranean, namely, S. elegans and S. officinalis. The usual length of the body is about 9 or ro in. They live mostly between ten and See also:forty fathoms, coming into shallower water in See also:July and See also:August to See also:deposit their eggs, which are about as large as See also:black currants and of somewhat similar See also:colour, and are connected by elongated stalks into a cluster attached to the sea-bottom. Other species occur in various parts of the See also:world, e.g. S. cultrata, which is common on the coasts of See also:Australia. The Sepiidae form the only See also:family of cuttle-fishes in which the shell is calcified. They belong to the tribe Myopsida, characterized by the See also:complete See also:closure of the See also:external corneal covering of the See also:eye outside the See also:iris and the See also:lens. Sepiola and Rossia belong to another family of the Myopsida. Both are British genera living in shallow water, and entering estuaries. The animals of both genera are small, not more than2 or 3 in. in length, with the body rounded at the aboral end, and the fins short and rounded, inserted in the See also:middle of the body length, instead of extending from end to end. Sepiola, although it swims by means of its fins and funnel when active, spends much of its time buried in the sand for concealment.

Rossia has similar habits. The shell is chitinous and shorter than the body. In other genera of the Sepiolidae the shell is entirely absent. Idiosepius is the smallest of the Cephalopoda, only I' 5 in. in length. It inhabits the See also:

Indian Ocean. The body is elongated and the fins rudimentary. In the Sepiadariidac also the shell is absent. The body is short and the mantle See also:united with the head dorsally. The two genera Sepiadarium and Sepioloidea occur in the Pacific Ocean. The common squid Loligo is the type of the only remaining family of the Myopsida. In this species the shell is a well-See also:developed chitinous pen or gladius with a thickened See also:axis narrowing to a point behind, but bearing posteriorly a wide thin See also:plate on each side. The shape closely resembles that of a See also:quill pen with the quill in front.

The fins are large and triangular, extending over rather more than See also:

half of the length of the body aborally. The tentacular arms are only partly retractile. The body is elongated and conical, and reaches about a See also:foot in length. The squid is gregarious, and forms a favourite See also:food of the larger fishes, especially of conger. All the Myopsida are more or less littoral in See also:habit, and the British forms are familiar in consequence of their frequent capture in the nets of fishermen. The shell, or " bone " as it is commonly called, of the common Sepia frequently occurs in abundance on the See also:shore among the sea-See also:weed and other refuse See also:left by the See also:tide. The Oigopsida, or cuttle-fishes in which the corneal covering of the eye is perforated, are on the whole more oceanic than littoral, and many of the species are abyssal. Ommatostrephes sagittatus is one of the forms that occurs off the British coasts, especially the more See also:northern, e.g. in the See also:Firth of Forth. In general See also:appearance it resembles the common squid, but the fins are broader and shorter, not extending to the middle of the body. The shell is similar to that of Loligo, but ends aborally in a little hollow See also:cone. The suckers See also:bear chitinous rings which are toothed along the See also:outer edge. The tentacular arms are rather short and thick.

Two specimens of allied species have been taken on British coasts, one of which, captured off, Salcombe in See also:

Devon-See also:shire in 1892, had a body 66 cm. (22 in.) long, and tentacular arms 64 cm. long, or nearly the same length as the body. Most of the species of Ommatostrephes are naturally gregarious and oceanic, and occur in the open seas in all latitudes, swimming near the surface and often leaping out of the water. They are largely devoured by albatrosses and other marine birds, and by See also:Cetacea. They are used as bait in the See also:Newfoundland See also:cod See also:fishery. Some of the oceanic cuttle-fishes reach a very large See also:size, and the stories of these ocean monsters which are narrated by the older writers, though to some extent exaggerated, are now known to be founded on fact. The figure given by one author of a gigantic Cephalopod rising from the surface of the ocean and embracing with its arms a full-rigged See also:ship does not accurately represent an actual occurrence, but on the other See also:hand there are See also:authentic instances on See also:record of fishermen in small boats on the banks of Newfoundland being in great peril in consequence of large squids throwing their arms across their boats. In See also:November 1894 a specimen was brought ashore at St See also:John's, Newfoundland, which had been caught in See also:herring nets. Its body was 7 ft. long, its fins 22 in. broad, and its tentacular arms 24 ft. long. Several others have been recorded, taken in the same region, which were as large or larger, the See also:total length of the body and tentacles together varying from 3o to 52 ft., and the estimated See also:weight of one of them being 1000 lb. In See also:April 187 5 one of these large squids occurred off Boffin's See also:Island on the Irish coast. The See also:crew of a See also:curragh rowed out to it and attacked it, cutting off two of its arms and its head.

The shorter arms measured 8 ft. in length and 15 in. in circumference; the tentacular arms are said to have been 30 ft. long. In the Natural See also:

History Museum in See also:London there is one of the shorter arms of a specimen; this arm is 9 ft. in length and 11 in. in circumference, and the total length of the specimen, including body and tentacles, is stated to have been 40 ft. The maximum known length of these See also:giant squids is stated to be 18 metres or about 582 ft. All these gigantic specimens belong, so far as at present known, to one genus called Architeuthis, referred to the same family as Ommatostrephes. They are the largest known invertebrates. These huge cuttle-fishes as well as those of various other oceanic species form the food of the cachalot or sperm See also:whale, and F. T. Bullen, in his Cruise of the Cachalot and other writings, has graphically described contests which came under his own observation between the cachalot and its prey. The prince of See also:Monaco in his yacht the " Princess Alice " was fortunate enough to be able to make a very complete scientific investigation in the See also:case of one specimen of the cachalot, which not only confirmed the most important of Mr Bullen's statements, but added considerably to our knowledge of oceanic cuttle-fishes. Off the See also:Azores in July 1895 the prince in his yacht witnessed the killing of a cachalot 13.90 metres long (about 45 ft. 8 in.) by the crew of a whaler. The animal in its See also:death-agony vomited the contents of its See also:stomach, most of which were carefully collected and preserved, and after-wards examined by See also:Professor Joubin.

On the lips of the whale were found impressions several centimetres wide which corresponded exactly to the toothed suckers of the largest cuttle-fish arms obtained from its stomach. The contents of the stomach consisted entirely of cuttle-fish or parts of cuttle-fish, including the giant Architeuthis, and among them was the body, without the head, of a form new to See also:

science, distinguished by a See also:condition of the external surface which occurs in no other species of the See also:group. The surface of the skin was divided into small angular See also:flat projections like scales, arranged in a regular See also:spiral like the scales of a See also:pine cone. From this character the new genus was called Lepidoteuthis. The body, without the head, of the specimen obtained was 86 cm. (nearly 3 ft.) in length. The family Onychoteuthidae is remarkable for the formidable chitinous hooks See also:borne on the arms. 'these hooks are See also:special modifications of the toothed chitinous See also:ring which covers thesucker-rim in the Decapoda generally. The See also:teeth of the ring are often unequal in size, and in the Onychoteuthidae one tooth is enormously developed. The maximum development occurs in Veranya, found in the Mediterranean, where the suckers have lost their See also:function and are merely fleshy projections bearing the hooks at their extremities. Onychoteuthis reaches a large size, the length of the body without the arms being in one specimen from the Pacific coast of See also:America 8 ft.

End of Article: CUTTACK

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