PIERCED SHELLS AND CHITONS 271 
mal, and from their peculiar shape are often 
called Butterfly-shells. The whole creature is a 
huge and heavy affair, six or eight inches in length. 
When properly cleaned and dried the mantle and 
valves much resemble a toy boat. This huge Chi- 
ton lives all along the western coast, ranging from 
Japan to the Santa Barbara Islands. Complete 
specimens are seldom collected from the shore, for 
it lives just below the lowest tide-mark. 
The highest class of mollusks, the Cephalopods, 
are rather poorly represented on our coast, though 
one species, at least, exists in great numbers. Shells 
of a Paper Nautilus, Argonauta pacifica, Dall, are 
sometimes washed ashore on the Santa Barbara 
Islands. A much more common species is the Oc- 
topus, or Devilfish, of our coast, Octopus puncta- 
tus, Gabb, small specimens of which are frequently 
captured alive in little tide pools, though in the 
open sea it grows to startling dimensions. 
Ommastrephes tryont, Gabb, the common Squid 
of Monterey, is caught in vast numbers by the 
Chinese fishermen of that city, who go out at night, 
when the bay is quiet, some of their boats bearing 
huge torches, while the others are provided with 
seoop-nets. The silly squids rise to the surface to 
see the hight and are easily captured. Next day 
they are spread out to dry, and when thoroughly 
eured they are packed in huge bales and sent to 
China. The common length of the squid is about 
eight inches, but specimens of a large size, prob- 
ably Ommastrephes gigas, d’Orb., are occasionally 
taken at Monterey, which measure fully a yard in 
length. 
