298 WEST COAST SHELLS 



when thoroughly cured they are packed in huge bales 

 and sent to China for food. The average length of 

 the common squid is about eight inches. It differs 

 from the Octopus by having shorter legs, and a long, 

 straight body, with an arrow-shaped tail. It is this 

 long body that contains the white muscle which is so 

 highly prized as food. 



Another squid, Onunastre plies gigas, d'Orb., is 

 occasionally taken at Monterey, which measures fully 

 a yard in length. Its body is stiffened by a trans- 

 parent "pen," shaped somewhat like a large feather. 

 Other cuttles contain the "cuttle bones" which we 

 feed to our canary birds; they also have bags ot ink, 

 or sepia, and so the Cephalopods are sometimes called 

 the "Literary Family of the Sea." 



