134 The Cuttle-fish or Squid 



opened him and found within him twenty- four Squid, 

 packed as tightly within his maw as if they had been 

 forced down, yet he was ready for just another one, 

 or he would not have taken my bait. What countless 

 myriads of these small cuttles must be bred then, to 

 supply the needs of the millions of hungry fish like my 

 skip-jack ! 



On what are all these molluscs fed ? Here we must 

 leave them, for it is quite impossible to go lower than 

 them with any degree of certainty. That they are 

 all fed, are all fat and well-liking, is absolutely certain, 

 but the character of the individuals upon which they 

 feed is just beyond our ken, as is the answer to the 

 question of how do they enjoy their lives, being only 

 apparently bom to be chased and devoured. Yet 

 that last is presented by so many other members of 

 the animal kingdom that it almost ceases to excite 

 our wonder. It must be, we feel, that the absence 

 of prevision, of the power of anticipation, except 

 instinctively, is the compensating factor in all such 

 cases, preventing these myriads from dreading death, 

 and making them enjoy present life to the full. More- 

 over, lingering death, the slow agony of coming 

 dissolution, which humanity is so liable to, is almost 

 unknown among these lower intelligences. As a 

 rule, their transmutation, via the stomach of some 

 higher organism, into another form of being is swift 

 and painless, so much so, indeed, as to be almost 

 unnoticeable. 



Ascending the scale of the deep-sea Cephalopoda, 

 we now come to a very different state of affairs. Not 

 only are the individuals larger, but they are better 

 armed, of higher intelligence, and fairly well able to 

 hold their own against fish very much their superiors 

 in size. In consequence, they are not nearly so prolific. 



