THE MOLLUSCA 



225 



the eye of the would-be capturer lights on this the Sepiola 

 is far away. 



Loligo media, one of the calamaries. may often be seen 

 in the large, sand- bottomed pools. This species is about 

 four inches long, slender and graceful. It is usually seen 

 in little shoals of a score or so, and they manoeuvre with 

 military precision. Their 

 colour, pearly white, with 

 pink dots (variable at will), 

 closely assimilates with the 

 sandy bottom, but they are 

 conspicuous by the large, 

 metallic, green eyes. 



This is given as a species, 

 and perhaps it is, but I have 

 a suspicion that it is but the 

 young of the large common 

 squid. 



(If they were adults their 

 egg capsules would certainly 

 be observed, but I have never 

 known of any.) 



The common "Long Squid," 

 " Cuttle," or " Calamary " 

 (Loligo vulgaris), does not, when 

 adult, belong to the littoral, 



but is taken, sometimes abundantly, in the trawl close 

 inshore. It attains a length of about twenty inches, and 

 is much prized as bait by the fishermen. Its eggs are fre- 

 quently seen at low-tide level. They are set in little cap- 

 sules, which are aggregated into long, cylindrical, gelatinous 

 arrangements, and these are fixed by a string, in bunches 

 of a dozen or so, to various objects stones, shells, stems of 

 laminaria, etc. The ropes hanging from buoys or attached 

 to crab pots are favourite situations for these egg clusters. 



Fig. 90. Sepiola rondettii 

 Natural size < 



