[ 97 ] CEPHALOPODS OF NORTHEASTERN COAST OF AMERICA. 
times repeated a dozen times before one of these active and wary fishes 
could be caught. Sometimes, after making several unsuccessful at¬ 
tempts, one of the squids would suddenly drop to the bottom, and, rest¬ 
ing upon the sand, would change its color to that of the sand so perfectly 
as to be almost invisible. In this position it would wait until the fishes 
came back, and when they were swimming close to or over the ambus¬ 
cade, the squid, by a sudden dart, would be pretty sure to secure a fish. 
Ordinarily, when swimming, they were thickly spotted with red and 
brown, but when darting among the mackerel they appeared translu¬ 
cent and pale. The mackerel, however, seemed to have learned that 
the shallow water was the safest for them, and would hug the shore as 
closely as possible, so that in pursuing them many of the squids became 
stranded and perished by hundreds, for when they once touch the shore 
they begin to pump water from their siphons with great energy, and 
this usually forces them farther and farther up the beach. At such 
times they often discharge their ink in large quantities. The attacks 
on the young mackerel were observed mostly at or near high-water, for 
at other times the mackerel were seldom seen, though the squids were 
seen swimming about at all hours, and these attacks were observed 
both in the day and evening. 
It is probable, from various observations, that this and other species 
of squids are mainly nocturnal in their habits, or at least are much more 
active in the night than in the day. Those that are caught in the pounds 
and weirs mostly enter in the night, evidently while swimming along the 
shores in “schools.” They often get aground on the sand-flats at Prov- 
incetown, Mass., in the night. On the islands in the Bay of Fundy, 
even where there are no flats, I have often found them in the morning, 
stranded on the beaches in immense numbers, especially Avhen there is 
a full moon, and it is thought by many of the fishermen that this is be¬ 
cause, like many other nocturnal animals, they have the habit of turn¬ 
ing toward and gazing at a bright light, and since they swim backwards, 
they get ashore on the beaches opposite the position of the moon. This 
habit is also sometimes taken advantage of by the fishermen, who cap¬ 
ture them for bait for codfish. They go out in dark nights with torches 
in their boats, and by advancing slowly toward a beach, drive them 
ashore. They are taken in large quantities in nets and pounds, and also 
by means of “jigs” or groups of hooks, which are moved up and down 
in the water, and to which the squids cling, and are then quickly pulled 
out of the water. They are also sometimes caught by fish-hooks, or ad¬ 
hering to the bait used for fishes. 
Their habit of discharging an inky fluid through the siphon, when 
irritated or alarmed, is well known. The ink is said to have caustic 
and irritating properties. 
This squid, like the Loligo , is eagerly pursued by the cod and many 
other voracious fishes, even when adult. Among its enemies while 
young are the full-grown mackerel, who thus retaliate for the massacre 
of their own young by the squids. The specimens observed catching 
