24 CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



secure caverns of the reef and goes hunting for food in the shallow 

 flats near shore, where it is easily speared. 



On the island oi" Guam, Bartsch tells about an entirely different 

 procedure. The natives work on the inside of reefs, in the surf. They 

 use large repulsive-looking sea cucumbers tied to a line with a sinker 

 which is lowered among the crevices of the reef. The first action of 

 the sea cucumber is to try to hide, and if he finds a cavity containing 

 an octopus, the latter at once moves out and is easily speared from the 

 canoe. Evidently, the company of the sea cucumber is quite distaste- 

 ful to the octopus. 



Bartsch quotes Dr. H. M. Smith on Japanese methods in the follow- 

 ing vein : Octopi are an abundant and important food product in Japan. 

 This cephalopod is caught in various ways, the most interesting of which 

 is by the use of earthenware pots, which are lowered to the bottom by 

 means of cords and left for 8 to 10 hours. The octopi enter the shiny, 

 smooth pots and are evidently reluctant to leave, so that the pots may 

 be pulled to the surface before they try to escape. These pots have 

 a hole in the bottom to alloAv the escape of water. 



Dr. Smith goes on to tell of a reverse procedure of this method in 

 recovering valuable porcelains destined for the Imperial household 

 from a vessel that was wrecked in the Inland Sea about a century ago. 

 Fishermen have recently been recovering these valuable pieces of 

 pottery, which are in excellent condition, by tying strings to octopi 

 and lowering them in the vicinity of the wreck. The animals enter the 

 vessels and retain their hold until drawn to the surface. 



ANIMAL KINGDOM RELATIONSHIP 



The octopus is not related to fishes. All animals can be separated 

 into two groups known as invertebrates and vertebrates, that is, with 

 or without a backbone. True fishes belong to the latter group (verte- 

 bate), while octopi belong to the former group. Those animals having 

 certain structural characters in common are placed in smaller group- 

 ings called phyla. For example, octopus and squid belong to the phylum 

 ]\Iollusca. Although this phylum also includes such external shell- 

 bearing marine forms as abalones, clams, scallops and mussels, all 

 animals of this phylum have in common a mantle, a ventral muscular 

 foot, as well as a shell, or a vestige of one, and a radula. In the case 

 of abalones, clams, etc., the shell is external, whereas in squids it is 

 reduced to a chitinous inner pen or cuttlebone, and in the octopus to 

 an insignificant coiled vestige. 



However, the squids, octojii and natuli differ from other members 

 of the phylum Mollusca in that the foot is divided into arms provided 

 with suckers (as well as a strongly developed nervous system con- 

 centrated in the head), so that they are grouped together in the class 

 Cephalopoda, meaning "head-footed." 



The Cephalopoda are divided into two orders, Tetrabranchia and 

 Dibranchia. The order Tetrabranchia is characterized by the presence 

 of four gills, four kidneys, four auricles, a large external shell, and 

 very short arms bearing no suckers. The only representative of this 

 order is the genus Nautilus, to which belongs the chambered or pearly 

 nautilus. The order Dibranchia is characterized by the presence of 

 only two gills, tAvo kidneys, two auricles, a shell enveloped by a mantle, 

 and long arms provided with suckers. 



