248 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



to facts collected by M. D'Orbigny, it has been found 

 at Hayti, Cuba, Bahia, the Isle of France, the East 

 Indies, and in the Red Sea. . . . This Cephalopod 

 lives almost always amougst rocks, and generally hides 

 itself in the holes and crevices, into which it penetrates 

 with great ease, its body being very supple and elastic. 

 It is in these recesses that he lies watching for the 

 auimals on which he lives; as soon as he perceives 

 them, he cautiously leaves his den, darts like an arrow 

 on his victim, which he wraps himself about, clasps in 

 his serpent-like arms, and fixes, by means of his 

 suckers. . . . Sometimes he places himself upon sandy 

 ground at a short distance from the rocks, and is 

 careful to construct a hiding-place. For this purpose 

 he brings together, in the form of a circle, a quantity 

 of pebbles, which he carries by fixing them on his 

 arms by means of his suckers. Then, having formed 

 a sort of crater, he ensconces himself in it, and there 

 waits patiently for some fish or crab to pass, which he 

 skilfully seizes." " The young Poiilps in summer 

 come to the pebbly shores, and they are sometimes 

 met with in muddy places, from which they are taken 

 by the trawl, together with numbers of Eledon (Ele- 

 done cirrhosus). They are usually fished for with a line 

 without a hook, instead of which is substituted a piece 

 of dog-fish, a bit of cuttle-fish, a white fish, a bone, a 

 piece of suet, or some attractive substance weighted 

 with a small stone. . . . They are also caught with 

 a small olive-branch, fixed at the end of a rod, fitted 

 with a hook, which is drawn backwards and forwards 

 before the openings of the holes and crevices of the 

 rocks." 



H. Verany further states that the fishermen catch 



