NATURAL HISTORY. 



[have ever met. In place of a nibble followed by a snap with the subse- 

 quent struggle for escape, there is a sensation as of some one grasping the 

 hook with his fingers. The squid does not use his mouth in ' biting/ but 

 merely clasps his tentacles round the jig. The pain from the sharp pins 

 doubtless induces him to escape instantly, but the fisherman, who is con- 

 L ntly jerking the jig up and down, pulls in as rapidly as possible, en- 

 tangling the squid's arms among the pins, and drawing him through the 

 water so rapidly that escape is impossible. 



•■ The instant he emerges from the water he contracts his body, dis- 

 charging through his siphon a jet of salt water. This is followed by a 

 sucking in of air by successive respiratory acts, till in its middle portion 

 his cylindrical body has become almost spherical. By a second contraction, 

 the squid now ejects from his siphon a stream of his black, inky secretion. 

 He will usually make one or more contractions in an effort to escape, after 

 which lie becomes resigned. Not infrequently it happens that the luckless 

 wight has not the squid unhooked before the inky discharge, and may 

 have this sent at himself, since the siphon points away from the animal 

 and upward. I have often seen a fellow struck full in the face by the 

 inky stream, which event was invariably followed by a stream of almost as 

 black abuse intended for the benefit of the squid. The squid is unhooked 

 by simply turning the jig upper-end downward, when he readily drops off." 

 According to Mr. Osborn the squid sell from twenty-five to forty cents 

 a hundred. "The number used by a single vessel in only two months is 

 astounding. One vessel, a small one, made three baitings, fishing each 

 time about two weeks, and used in that time eighty thousand of the squid. 

 A larger vessel, carrying two more men, would in the same time have 

 probably used over one hundred thousand. As to the whole number of 

 squid used in a single season by Americans alone, I have not sufficient 

 statistics to give an accurate statement; it would, however, be reckoned 

 high in the tens of millions." 



For many, many years the sea-serpent has been a favorite theme. 

 Somct imes he appeared as a veritable snake, while among the Scandinavians 

 he took more the form of a giant cuttle-fish. In one old picture one of 

 these monsters is represented as scuttling a ship, its long arms being twined 

 about the masts and yards, while the sailors very naturally are in a state 

 of extreme fright. It was not, however, until recent years that anything 

 authentic was known concerning the giant squid, but now they are known 

 to exist in the North Atlantic, in the Japanese and Alaskan seas, and near 

 New Zealand, while tales less authentic occur of their existence in other 

 parts of the world ; as for instance, one speaks of a dead one among the 

 South Sea Islands " as big as a schooner." Those of the North Atlantic 



