BAITS 129 



for, giving out a deluge of black ink, it frequently spoils the 

 water of the tank. This ink, which was formerly used for writing 

 purposes, is the sepia of artists. It is a curious fact that a very 

 good pigment can be made from the ink bags of fossil decapods. 

 As the sepia discharges its protective colouring fluid on the 

 slightest provocation, it is difficult to understand how it came 

 to acquiesce in the indignity of being fossilised without emptying 

 its ink bag during the process. 



There are about thirty species of these creatures altogether, 

 but the cuttle of British waters is the one already described 

 (Sepia officinalis). 



In many places on the Continent and in Japan cuttles are 

 used as food, either dried, salted, or cooked fresh, but, like the 

 octopus, have to be beaten to render them tender. It is gene- 

 rally believed that conger are particular on this point, disdaining 

 a piece of cuttle unless it has been treated in this way. The 

 brilliant lenses of the eyes, which are hard and almost calcareous, 

 are worn as ornaments in Italy, and the thick, chalky, internal 

 shell was, after treatment, used as face powder by the ancients, 

 and has been deemed of value for cleaning teeth. Finally it 

 has reached its level, perhaps, between the bars of the canary's 

 cage, where it is frequently seen. 



Of the three characteristic head-footed fish I have men- 

 tioned, the little squid is certainly the most useful for bait. It 

 is most readily obtained from the trawlers, who capture numbers 

 in their nets. But where plentiful, both squid and the sepias 

 are easily caught by means of a bait. It is desirable, however, 

 to bear in mind that when gaffed (the gaff being a triangle of 

 hooks at the end of a not too large stick) the cephalopod will, 

 as likely as not, discharge his ink bag full in the face of his 

 captor. The way to avoid this catastrophe for it is little less 

 is by holding the creature beneath the water until the ink bag 

 is emptied. Stale squid, except, perhaps, for bass, is of little use 



