CEPHALOPODA OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 27 1 



In fishing for hee (octopus) the native dives to the bottom, and, with a stick, pokes around in the 

 small holes in which the animal lives. When he touches one it seizes the stick and allows him to draw 

 it out of the hole. On reaching the surface the native seizes his captive with his hands and bites into 

 its head, thus killing it. 



******* 



The native is a great lover of the hee and has a number of methods of capturing it, one of the most 

 interesting of which is with the cowrie shell. One or more cowrie shells of the Mauritiana or Tiger 

 varieties are attached to a string. When only one is used, an oblong pebble about the size of the shell is 

 tied to the face of it, a hole is pierced in one end of the back of the shell, a line is passed through, and 

 after being fastened here, allowed to hang a few inches below the shell, to which a hook, whose point 

 stands almost perpendicular to the shaft or shank, is attached. Only shells with small red spots breaking 

 through a reddish-brown ground have an attraction for the hee, and it will not rise to any other kind. 

 Shells which have suitable spots but unsuitable background are given the desired hue by steaming them 

 over a fire of sugar-cane husks. 



On arriving at the fishing ground the fisherman in pursuit of hee either chews up and spits upon 

 the water a mouthful of candlenut meat, to render the surface glassy and clear, or he uses the water 

 glass, which is described below. He drops the shell into the water, and by means of the line swings it 

 back and forth over a place likely to be occupied by a hee. The greedy animal perceives the shell, 

 shoots out an arm, and seizes it. If the bait is attractive, after a few moments' hesitation another arm 

 is placed around it, and then another, until at last the animal withdraws itself entirely from its hole and 

 hugs the shell closely to its body, oblivious of everything else. The fisherman then draws it rapidly up 

 through the water, and when it raises its head at the surface, pulls it over against the edge of the canoe 

 and delivers a blow between the eyes with a club which is generally fatal. Owing to the hee 's quickness 

 with its eight tentacles or arms, the fisherman has to be very rapid in his movements, as the animal would 

 be no mean antagonist should it have an opportunity to seize him with its arms. The natives say that 

 a number of persons have lost their lives in struggles with the octopus. This method of fishing is called 

 by the natives "Lawaia hee me ke leho" (squid catching with cowrie). 



Nearly all squids and a good many octopods possess a further economic value in 

 that they comprise one of the chief articles of diet for such birds as the albatross and 

 shearwater, as well as for many of the more important food fishes. 



KEY TO THE CEPHALOPODA KNOWN TO INHABIT THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 



AND ADJACENT WATERS. 



I. Arms normally eight in number, tentacles being absent; suckers sessile, without a horny ring 

 (Octopoda). 

 1. A pair of lateral oar-shaped fins present; suckers in a single row. (Family Cirroteuthidae.) 



2. Radula present ; suckers not flanked by paired cirri Latmoteuthis lugubris, p. 275. 



i'. No fins. 



3. Hectocotylized arm of male involving the entire third arm of one side, developed in a special- 

 ized sac, and separable at maturity; animals pelagic. (Family Argonautidae.) 

 4. Dorsal arms of female with terminal winglike expansions modified for the secretion of 

 an external "shell;" left third arm of male hectocotylized; no aquiferous pores 

 present on head. (Genus Argonaula.) 

 5. Shell relatively small, compactly coiled, without auricular expansions at sides. 



Argonauta boltgeri, p. 277. 

 5'. Shell large, more or less auriculate at the sides Argonauta sp., p. 280. 



