MOLLUSCA. 191 



parts of the world, and occasionally exposed for sale in the 

 market at Naples and elsewhere. Our most common species 

 (Loligo vulgaris) forms the bait with which one-half of the 

 cod taken at Newfoundland is caught.* During violent gales 

 of wind, hundreds of tons of them are thrown up there on the 

 beach. Other species appear elsewhere to be no less numerous. 

 Mr. Bennett t describes them as forming a dense shoal on the 

 surface of the water, extending several hundred yards on 

 each side of the ship he was in; and also gives an animated 

 description of the flights of the flying squid, a name given to 

 another species because of their manner of leaping from the 

 water. 



Stories are told of gigantic Cuttle-fish throwing their arms 

 over luckless vessels, the thickness of each arm being equal to 

 that of the mizen-mast. But it is the business of science to 

 dispel these exaggerations, and patiently and laboriously to 

 seek out the truth, hailing with joy each new light which may 

 shine on the subject of inquiry. In the College of Surgeons, 

 London, are preserved portions of the largest specimen of a 

 Cuttle-fish which any of our museums contain. The carcass 

 was found during Captain Cook's first voyage, floating on the 

 sea, surrounded by aquatic birds, who were feeding on its 

 remains. " Comparing the size of this animal, from the parts 

 existing, with that of the smaller perfect animals, its body 

 must have been at least four feet long, which, added to the 

 tentacula, would make it seven feet in length." J We have, 

 in these countries, no positive evidence of the existence of any 

 Cuttle-fish of larger dimensions, but the general prevalence of 

 such belief inclines naturalists at present not to deny the 

 possibility of their occurrence. 



The ova of the Cuttle-fish are contained in vesicles, which, 

 in some cases, are clustered together, and known as " sea- 

 grapes." On one occasion, our dredge brought up a large 

 mass of them, so mature that, in the act of throwing it into 

 a vessel of sea- water, many of the ovisacs burst, and, to our 

 astonishment, we beheld the fluid swarming with minute 

 Cuttle-fish, whose dark eyes were singularly conspicuous. In 

 April, 1845, we found, on a sandy bank, in Belfast bay, a 

 number of detached vesicles, which had been left uncovered 



* Dr. Johnston in Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. iii. page 163. 



f Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round the Globe. London, 1840. 



J Owen, vid. Atheiiajum, 1810, page G7G. 



