THE SQUID AND OCTOPUS — BAETSCH. 363 



arrows, a school of Loligopsis shooting across our lighted field, 

 apparently not so much attracted by the light as by the feast before 

 them. They were wonderful creatures, unlike anything else; they 

 shot forward or back like a shuttle, with lightning rapidity. Not 

 only that, but they were able to divert their course into any direction 

 with equal speed. Shooting forward, their tentacles would seize a 

 small fish, and instantly they would come to a full stop, only to dart 

 backward like a flash at the least sign of danger. Kill, kill, kill; 

 they were bloodthirsty pirates. A bite in the neck, and the fish was 

 done for; but the sport continued, and, likely as not, the fish would 

 be dropped and another seized and dispatched. Never before nor 

 since have I seen anj'^thing that appeared to me more beautifully 

 equipped for an aquatic existence than these squids. Frequently — 

 yes, very frequently — their impetuous darts would carry them away 

 above the surface of the sea; flying squids, when the pumping of 

 their siphons produced a popping sound. 



I tried to jig some of them, having heard that the Newfoundland 

 fishermen employ a sinker with a series of hooks attached to it, which 

 they bob up and down in the water, thereby attracting the squids 

 and hooking them. Butj our Sulu squids refused to be hooked. 

 They would dash up to the contrivance, follow it at a safe distance, 

 but disdained to be caught. They would even snatch from the 

 hooks the small fish used as a bait, and make good their escape. 

 Even the expert jiggers aboard failed to catch them. The bright 

 idea to float a pocket net from the beam and have them enmesh 

 themselves in it occurred to someone. This was tried, and we found 

 that our squids possessed an intelligence equal to their lightning 

 movements. Did they enmesh themselves? Oh, no; not one of the 

 thousand or more that composed the school, but they seemed to enjoy 

 shooting through a hole in our seine and it was a comical as well as 

 wonderful sight to see them dart through this opening not more than 

 18 inches in diameter, like arrows fired from a rapid-fire machine 

 gun. Now and then the whole school would come near the surface 

 and pause, then again it would sinlc to a depth beyond our range of 

 vision. Then they would line up on the far side of our net, sink 

 below it, and shoot up on our side, to make an assault upon the small 

 fish fry which attempted to escape by breaking from the water. 



We finally did capture some by carefully watching the speedy 

 flight of an individual near the surface and quickly casting our dip 

 net ahead of him. But three nights' efforts of a half a dozen fisher- 

 men yielded only a couple of dozen specimens. 



These were wonderful nights in the Sulu Sea ! Tui-n off the elec- 

 tric current, and where a moment before you saw a mass of circling 

 life, you now have a glowing whirlpool, each spark an atom of life, 



