s 



-small schools, containing from a dozen to a hundred or more squid. The 

 individuals of these small schools breed near the shore. The first eggs are 

 deposited vei'V soon after the arrival of the sciuid and the young begin to hatch 

 within two or three weeks The young squid, immediately after hatching, form 

 large schools which hold together for a month or more until the squid are about 

 an inch long. In October or November the cold drives the squid into deejier 

 water. That the migrations of the squid are bathic rather than zonal is indicated 

 by the squid's manner of swimming, which does not admit of steady and long- 

 continued laiiid motion, and by the fact that they seem to "run"' before the 

 Sea Bass whose migration is generally conceded to be bathic. Both these facts, 

 however, have little weight , but until we find something to suggest a zonal 

 migiution , they may be accepted. 



The rate of growth and longevity of the squid have not been accurately 

 determined because squid do not live long in aquaria and because the breeding 

 season is so long that the youngest squid of one j'ear are not readily distinguish- 

 able from the oldest of the succeeding year. Very little can be added to the 

 results of Professor Verrill's study of the rate of growth of squid, which are 

 ubstantially as follows: — At Woods Hole, Mass., in the middle of July the 

 largest young of the year, which have developed from eggs deposited in May, 

 are 20 to 30 mm. long. Near the end of September the largest immature 

 squid . ^vhich cannot be more than five months old , are between 60 and 90 

 mm. long. Soon the squid disappear, and in the following May the squid vary 

 in size from 70 to 400 mm. and practically all are sexually mature. The 

 smallest of these represent the younger broods of the preceding year and are 

 eight or ten months old. The largest squid that appear in the spring are 350 

 to 400 mm. long and, since they can scarcely have grown to that size during 

 the winter , it is probable that they are the adults of the preceding year. Some 

 writers have maintained that the squid breed in their second year and then die, 

 but the inferred rate of growth of squid suggests that some squid live through 

 at least three summers. However, the small number of very large squid leads 

 us to suppose that the greater proportion of the adults of each summei- are 

 unable to survive until their third or foiuth season. 



The food of the squid , so far as known , consists of small fish , Crustacea , 

 and squid, but since most of our knowledge of their food is derived from the 

 identification of undigested food in the .stomach , it is exceedingly probable that 

 other animals, which do not have easily recognizable hard parts, are also eaten 

 by the squid. The very young squid feed largely upon copepods and other 

 small or larval Crustacea. S(juid of ever^- age are greedy and persistent cannibals. 



