[441] INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF VINEYARD SOUND, ETC. 147 
found in great abundance off Falmouth, on a shelly and weedy bottom, 
as already Asati (p. 416;) and near New Haven light-house large 
clusters, apparently of the same species, were found by Professer Todd, 
earlier in the season, (June 19.) Some of these masses were six or eight 
inches in diameter, consisting of hundreds of capsules, like fig. 102, 
each of which is usually three or four inches long and contains numer- 
ous eggs. These last contained embryos in different stages of devel- 
opment, two of which are represented in Plate XX, figs. 105,104. Even 
at this early period some of the pigment vesicles are already developed 
in the mantle and arms, and during life, if examined under the micro- 
scope, these orange and purple vesicles may be seen to rapidly contract 
and expand and change colors, as in the adult, only the phenomena may 
be more clearly seen, owing to the greater transparency of the skin in 
the embryos, They are, therefore, beautiful objects to observe under 
the microscope. At this stage of development the eyes were brown. 
In these embryos the yolk is finally absorbed through the mouth, which 
corresponds, therefore, in this respect, to an ‘‘ umbilicus.” The more 
advanced of these embryos (fig. 103) were capable of swimming about, 
when removed from the eggs, by means of the jets of water from the 
siphon. , 
Another species, Loligo pallida V., (Plate XX, figs. 101, 101a,) occurs 
abundantly, in autumn, in the western part of Long Island Sound, 
from whence Robert Benner, esq., has sent me numerous speci- 
mens. This is a pale, translucent, gelatinous-looking species, with much 
fewer spots than usual, even on the back, and is nearly white beneath- 
It is a stout species, commonly five or six inches long, exclusive of the 
arms, but grows considerably larger than that. It is often taken in the 
seines in large numbers with menhaden, upon which it probably feeds. 
These squids are eagerly devoured, even when full grown, by many of 
the larger fishes, such as blue-fish, black-bass, striped-bass, &e. When 
young they are preyed upon by a still larger variety of fishes, as well 
as by the jelly-fishes, &e. 
Another species of ‘squid,’ Ommastrephes illecebrosa, has been recorded 
from Greenport, Long Island, by Mr. Sanderson Smith, but I have not met 
with it myself, south of Cape Cod. Itis common in Massachusetts Bay 
and very abundant in the Bay of Fundy. Messrs. 8. I. Smith and Oscar 
Harger observed it at Provincetown, Massachusetts, among the wharves, 
in large numbers, July 28, engaged in capturing and devouring the 
young mackerel, which were swimming about in “ schools,” and at that 
time were about four or five inches long. In attacking the mackerel they 
would suddenly dart backward among the fish with the velocity of an 
arrow, and as suddenly turn obliquely to the right or left and seize a fish, 
which was almost instantly killed by a bite in the back of the neck with 
the sharp beaks. The bite was always made in the same place, eut- 
ting out a triangular piece of flesh, and was deep enough to penetrate 
to the spinal cord. The attacks were not always successful, and were 
