306 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [96] 



seemed to be wholly engaged in the pursuit of food, following the schools 

 of herring, which were then in pursuit of shrimp (Thysanopoda None- 

 gica), which occur in the Bay of Fundy, at times, iu great quantities, 

 swimming at the surface. The stomachs of the squids taken on these 

 occasions were distended with fragments of Thysanopoda, or with the 

 flesh of the herring, or with a mixture of the two, but their reproductive 

 organs were not in an active condition. The same is true of all the 

 specimens that I have taken at other localities in summer. From the 

 fact that the oviducts are small and simple, and the nidamental glands 

 little developed, I believe that it will eventually prove that this species 

 discharges its eggs free in the ocean, and that they will be found floating 

 at the surface, either singly or in gelatinous masses or bands, not having 

 any complicated capsules to inclose them. Nothing is known as to the 

 length of time required by this species to attain its full size. It prob- 

 ably lives several years. 



This squid is an exceedingly active creature, darting with great ve- 

 locity backward, or in any other direction, by means of the reaction of 

 the jet of water which is ejected with great force from the siphon, and 

 which may be directed forward or backward, or to the right or left, by 

 bending the siphon. Even when confined in a limited space, as in a 

 fish-pound, it is not an easy matter to capture them with a dip-net, so 

 quick will they dart away to the right and left. When darting rap- 

 idly the lobes of the caudal fin are closely wrapped around the body* 

 and the arms are held tightly together, forming an acute bundle in front, 

 so that the animal, in this condition, is sharp at both ends, and passes 

 through the water with the least possible resistance. Its caudal fin is 

 ■ used as an accessory organ of locomotion when it slowly swims about 

 or balances itself for some time nearly in one position in the water. 



The best observations of the modes of capturing its prey are by 

 Messrs. S. I. Smith and Oscar Harger, who observed it at Province- 

 town, Mass., among the wharves, in large numbers, July 28, 1872, en- 

 gaged 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 sud- 

 denly 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 their 

 sharp beaks. The bite was always made in the same place, cutting out 

 a triangular piece of flesh, and was deep enough to penetrate to the 

 spinal cord. The attacks were not always successful, and were soine- 



* This position of the fins is very well shown in Plate 26, fig. 341, of Binney's edition 

 of Gould's Invertebrata of Massachusetts. This figure was probably drawn by Mr. 

 Burkhardt from living specimens formerly kept in Cutting's Aquarium, in Boston, 

 about 1860 to 1862. This figure is very good, in most respects, except that the clubs 

 of the tentacles have been confounded with the ventral pair of the sessile arms, and 

 thus the suckers are represented as if they extended along the whole length of the 

 tentacles. 



