ECONOMIC VALUE OF CUTTLE-FISHES. 9s 



This mode of catching squid is of very early origin. It was 

 a common practice in Oppian's time, although the "jigger" he 

 describes was somewhat different from that now in use. He 

 writes : — 



For sieves a slender shaft the swain provides 

 Cylindric, like a distaff : round the sides 

 Adjacent hooks their radiant files extend, 

 With points supine the dreadful rows descend, 

 To silent deeps the fatal engine shdes, 

 The steely curves a painted rainbow hides. 

 The incurious sieve invades his artful fate, 

 And throws his branching snouts around the bait. 

 Within the hooks the thready tendrils twine, 

 Entangled in th' embrace they would resign. 

 In vain to disengage his hold he tries. 

 In his own chains the seh^- caught captive dies. 



Oppian also describes another method of taking cuttles, which 

 in some localities is still resorted to at certain seasons. The 

 fishermen fasten the end of a line round a living female octopus 

 or sepia, and lower her down towards a rocky bottom. On the 

 male coming to woo he comes to woe, for both are pulled up 

 together. 



There is nothing incredible in this. The Japanese, at the 

 present day, use a spawning femiale fish as a lure for others of the 

 same species. Having found one nearly, but not quite, ready to 

 deposit her roe, they squeeze from her a portion of it, which hangs 

 suspended from the body, and then anchor her near the shore b}- 

 a hook and line. The males are instinctively drawn to the spot, 

 a seine is shot round them, and all are easily taken. A similar 

 process is commonly resorted to by entomologists for the capture 

 of rare species of moths and butterflies. 



Cuttles are often caught in the Adriatic by sinking in the sea 

 branches of trees and faggots, which entice them, as being suitable 

 spawning ground and offering good anchorage for their eggs. 



It is somewhat remarkable that whilst the octopus shuns the 

 light and retreats from that of a lanthorn, the cuttle and squid are 



