322 THE OCEAN. 



sucker-cup of the long feet, a sharp projecting 

 hook. On the smooth and glossy scales of fishes, 

 lubricated with slime, it might not be always easy 

 at once to create a vacuum; but these hooks are 

 plunged by the action of the sucker into the flesh 

 of the struggling victim, whereby a firm hold is 

 obtained, and the prey is dragged to the powerful 

 beak. 



Some of these animals frequent the crevices and 

 holes of the rocks, whence they protrude their long 

 arms for the capture of prey. They form an ac- 

 ceptable article of food to the South-Sea islanders, 

 who have exercised their ingenuity in devising a 

 mode of entrapping them. The instrument employ- 

 ed for this purpose is described as a straight piece 

 of hard wood, a foot long, round, and polished, and 

 not half an inch in diameter. Near one end of 

 this, a number of the most beautiful pieces of the 

 cowry, or tiger-shell, are fastened one over another, 

 like the scales of a fish or the plates of a piece of. 

 armour, until it is about the size of a turkey's egg, 

 and resembles the cowry. It is suspended in a 

 horizontal position, by a strong line, and lowered 

 by the fisherman from a small canoe, until it nearly 

 reaches the bottom. The fisherman then gently 

 jerks the line, causing the shell to move as if inhabit- 

 ed by an animal. The Cuttle, deceived by the ap- 

 pearance of the supposed cowry (for no bait is used), 

 darts out one of its arms, which it winds around 

 the shell, adhering fast by its suckers. The fish- 

 erman continues jerking the line, and the Cuttle 

 strengthens its hold by affixing mor« of its arms, 



