to the town, and Professor Parker asked us to help him prepare the speci- 

 mens. Upon reaching his room, he procured a large tub, and emptied 

 the contents of the copper can into it. Thoroughly washing out the can, 

 he filled it two-thirds full of seventy-five per cent alcohol, and then told 

 us that he was ready for work. 



Picking up a specimen of the squid about a foot long, he proceeded 

 to show us the different parts of the animal, and to describe their func- 

 tions. The body was long and cylindrical, and was divided into two 

 parts: the body proper, which resembled a \ 



conical sac, open at one end and sharply point- 

 ed at the other, to which two broad fins were 

 attached ; and the head, to which the arms, 

 or feelers, were attached. The head was 

 somewhat movable, and had a large eye on 

 each side. The arms were ten in number, 

 eight being short and thick, and lined on 

 the inside with several rows of round, cup- 

 shaped sucking disks. Two of the arms 

 were very much longer than the others, and 

 were slender and cylindrical, excepting near 

 the end, where they were enlarged to form 

 an oval club, the inside of which was covered 

 with suckers. The little suckers, or aceta- 

 bula, were examined with great interest. 

 Each one was a rounded cup, the rim of 

 which supported a horny ring with serrated 

 or teeth-like edges. The sucker was attached 

 to the arm by a slender peduncle, or stem. 

 Inside the cup there was a shallow cavity, 

 and at the bottom a small, flat piston. The 

 sucking action is produced in the following 

 manner : when the sucker comes in contact 

 with any object, the piston, which is made 

 up of strong muscles, is pulled back, thus 

 forming a vacuum in the cup which causes 

 the latter to adhere firmly to the object. It 

 may be easily seen that a squid has tremendous holding power when 

 several hundred of these suckers are in action. 



We saw that the mouth was placed in the center of the head where all 

 of the arms join, and that it was armed with a horny beak like that of a 

 parrot, only inverted. With this beak the squid is able to bite off pieces 



127 



Squid, Loligo pealii, showing 

 different parts of body, a, ear; e, 

 eye; f, fins; p, water pore; s, siphon; 

 t, tentacular arm: 1, 2, 3, 4, the 

 short or sessile arms. (Verrill.) 



