LOLIGO. 37 



with great rapidity ; fish and pelagic crustaceans, lanthinse, 

 and other oceanic mollusca, constitute its food ; many in- 

 dividuals frequently unite and hunt in companies, their 

 favourite time for scouring the surface being the evening 

 after sunset. 



The Loligo magna, the common species, is the favourite 

 food of the cod, and with it one half of all the cod taken 

 at Newfoundland is caught. When the vast shoals of this 

 mollusk approach the coast, hundreds of vessels are ready 

 to capture them, forming an extensive cuttle-fish fishery, 

 engaging five hundred sail of French and English ships. 

 During violent gales of wind hundreds of tons of them are 

 often thrown up together in beds on the flat beaches, the 

 decay of which spreads an intolerable effluvium around 

 (Johnston), The L. magna is also used for bait by fisher- 

 men on our own coast, under the name of " squid." Its 

 egg-cluster has been estimated to contain forty thousand 

 eggs. The LoUgines are found in all seas, and the species 

 are numerous. 



Species of Loligo. 



Alessandrinii, Verany. Pealii, Blainv. 



australis, Grat/. Plei, Blainv. 



BrasiliensiS; Blainv. Reynaudii, UOrh. and Fcrux. 



brevis, Blainv. fcricariuata, Gray. 



Chinensis, Gray. 



Duvaucelii, B'Orb. and FSrus. Doubtful species. 



Emraakina, Gray. carunculata, Schneider. 



Gahi, D'Orb. lanceolata, Eafin. 



Hardwickei, Grai/. minima, D'Orb. 



magna, Rondelet. Osogadium, Rafin. 



neglecta, Gray. 



