A. E. Yerrlll — JSTorth American. Cephalopods. 397 



mostly entirely dead, and more or less mutilated by birds and fishes. 

 In very few cases they were not quite dead, but entirely^disabled. 

 These were seen chiefly between north latitude 44° and 44° 30', and 

 between west longitude 49° 30' and 49° 50'. He believes that 

 between 25 and 30 specimens were secured by the fleet from Glou- 

 cester, Mass., and that as many more were probably obtained by the 

 vessels from other places. They were cut iip and used as bait for 

 codfish. For this use they are of considerable value to the fishermen. 

 Captain Collins was at that time in command of the schooner 

 " Howard," which secured five of these giant-squids. These were 

 mostly from 10 to 15 feet long, not including the anus, and averaged 

 about 18 inches in diameter. The arms were almost always muti- 

 lated. The portion that was left was usually -^ to 4 feet long, and at 

 the base, about as large as a man's thigh. 



One specimen (No. 25), when cut up, was packed into a large hogs- 

 head-tub having a capacity of about 75 gallons, which it filled. This 

 tub was known to hold 700 pounds of codfish. The gravity of the 

 Architeuthis is probably about the same as that of the fish. This 

 would indicate more nearly the actual weight of one of these crea- 

 tures than any of the mere estimates that have been made, which are 

 usually much too great. Allowing for the parts of the arms that 

 had been destroyed, this si^ecimen would probably have weighed 

 nearly 1,000 pounds. 



Among the numerous other vessels that were fortunate in securing 

 this kind of bait, Captain Collins mentions the following : 



The schooner " Sarah P. Ayer," Captain Oakley, took one or two. 



The " E. R. Nickerson," Captain McDonald, secured one that had 

 its arms, and was not entirely dead, so that it was harpooned. Its 

 tentacular arms were 36 feet long CNo. 26). 



The schooner " Tragabigzanda," Captain Mallory, secured thi-ee in 

 one afternoon. These were 8 to 12 feet long, not including the arms. 



These statements are confirmed by other fisliermen, some of whom 

 state that the " big squids " were also common during the same sea- 

 son at the "Flemish Cap," a bank situated some distance northeast 

 from the Grand Banks. 



The cause of so great a mortality among these great Cephalopods 

 can only be conjectured. It may have been due to some disease 

 epidemic among them, or to an unusual prevalence of deadly para- 

 sites or other enemies. It is worth while, however, to recall the 

 fact that these were observed at about the same time, in autunm, 

 when most of the specimens have been found cast ashore at New- 



