[97] CEPHALOPODS OF NORTHEASTERN COAST OF AMERICA. 307 



times repeated a dozen times before one of these active and wary fishes 

 could be caught. Sometimes, after making- several unsuccessful at- 

 tempts, one of the squids would suddenly drop to the bottom, and, rest- 

 ing upon the sand, would change its color to that of the sand so perfectly 

 as to be almost invisible. In this position it would wait until the fishes 

 came back, and when they were swimming close to or over the ambus- 

 cade, the squid, by a sudden dart, would be pretty sure to secure a fish. 

 Ordinarily, when swimming, they were thickly spotted with red and 

 brown, but when darting among the mackerel they appeared translu- 

 cent and pale. The mackerel, however, seemed to have learned that 

 the shallow water was the safest for them, and would hug the shore as 

 closely as possible, so that in pursuing them many of the squids became 

 stranded and perished by hundreds, for when they once touch the shore 

 they begin to pump water from their siphons with great energy, ^nd 

 this usually forces them farther and farther up the beach. At such 

 times they often discharge their ink in large quantities. The attacks 

 on the young mackerel were observed mostly at or near high-water, for 

 at other times the mackerel were seldom seen, though the squids were 

 seen swimming about at all hours, and these attacks were observed 

 both in the day and evening. 



It is probable, from various observations, that this and other species 

 of squids are mainly nocturnal in their habits, or at least are much more 

 active in the night than in the day. Those that are caught in the pounds 

 and weirs mostly enter in the night, evidently while swimming along the 

 shores in "schools." They often get aground on the sand-flats at Prov- 

 incetown, Mass., in the night. On the islands in the Bay of Fundy, 

 even where there are no flats, I have often found them in the morning, 

 stranded on the beaches in immense numbers, especially when there is 

 a full moon, and it is thought by many of the fishermen that this is be- 

 cause, like many other nocturnal animals, they have the habit of turn- 

 ing toward and gazing at a bright light, and since they swim backwards, 

 they get ashore on the beaches opposite the position of the moon. This 

 habit is also sometimes taken advantage of by the fishermen, who cap- 

 ture them for bait for codfish. They go out in dark nights with torches 

 in their boats, and by advancing slowly toward a beach, drive them 

 ashore. They are taken in large quantities in nets and pounds, and also 

 by means of "jigs" or groups of hooks, which are moved up and down 

 in the water, and to which the squids cling, and are then quickly pulled 

 out of the water. They are also sometimes caught by fish-hooks, or ad- 

 hering to the bait used for fishes. 



Their habit of discharging an inky fluid through the siphon, when 

 irritated or alarmed, is well known. The ink is said to have caustic 

 and irritating properties. 



This squid, like the Loligo, is eagerly pursued by the cod and many 

 other voracious fishes, even when adult. Among its enemies while 

 young are the full-grown mackerel, who thus retaliate for the massacre 

 of their own young by the squids. The specimens observed catching 



