SEPIA

In the Fine Arts, a species of pigment prepared from a black juice secreted by certain glands of the sepia or cuttlefish, which the animal ejects both to darken the water when it is pursued, and as a direct means of annoyance. That this juice was used as ink by the ancients is well known. Tunc queritur, cra us calamoquod pendeat humor, Ni^C'a qu"d iiifuaa vanescat sepia hmjjha; Lalu'.as queritur gemiuet quod iis'.ul.iguaas.— Pert. Sat. III. Compare Pliny (Nat. Hist. 1. ii., c. 29), where he says that it was the property of this fish, when it was enclosed by a net, to shed a black juice, which so darkened the water that the fisherman could not see it. All the varieties of the sepia yield this juice; but the Sepia officinal is, which is so common in the Mediterranean, is chiefly sought after, from the profusion of colour which it affords. It is insoluble in water, but is extremely diffusible through it, and is very slowly deposited. When prepared with caustic lye, it forms a beautiful brown colour with a fine grain, and has given name to a species of drawing now extensively cultivated for landscapes and other branches of the fine arts. The honour of the invention of the sepic drawing is due to Profe or Seidelmann of Dresden, who discovered it at Rome in 1777. SEPIAD^E. (Yunanca köken — orijinale bakınız.) Cuttle-fish tribe. The name of the family of Decapodous Dibrnnchiate Cephnlopods of w Inch the cuttle-fish (Sepia officinal is) is the type. They are characterized by the rudiment of a shell, in the form of a friable calcareous plate, imbedded in the back part of the mantle, and of which the material called pounce is made. [s. 1124]