ARE FOOD TO INSECTS. 31 



sleeve or hose-fish. With this cuttle, one half of all the cod 

 taken at Newfoundland is caught. " It occurs in vast abun- 

 dance, but at different times, on different coasts ; for example, 

 at St. Pierre in July, on the southern coasts of Newfoundland 

 only in August, and in Bonna Bay first in September. Its 

 vast shoals present a curious appearance, by their strongly 

 twisted compact form. When they approach, hundreds of 

 vessels are ready for their capture." " At this season of the 

 year, the sea on the coast of St. Pierre is covered with from 

 400 to 500 sail of English and French ships, engaged in the 

 cuttle-fish fishery."* It begins to retire from the coast in 

 September. " During violent gales of wind," says Mr. Cor- 

 mack, " hundreds of tons of them are often thrown up 

 together in beds on the flat beaches, the decay of which 

 spreads an intolerable effluvium around. It is made no use 

 of except for bait ; and as it maintains itself in deeper water 

 than the capelan, instead of nets being used to take it, it is 

 jigged, a jigger being a number of hooks radiating from a 

 fixed centre, made for the purpose. The cod is in best con- 

 dition after having fed on it."f Another method of taking 

 them is sometimes resorted to. Fires are made all along the 

 shore during the night, when the Loligo, attracted by the 

 light, approaches too near for his safety, and is left on the 

 strand by the recess of the tide, when the fishermen go to 

 gather them."J 



Crowds of the inferior animals certainly feed on the Mol- 

 lusca ; but as there is little interest in the detail, a very few 

 examples will here suffice. There is a singular coleopterous 

 insect, the Drilus flavescens, which is known to devour vora- 

 ciously the Helix nemoralis, in the shell of which it dwells 

 and undergoes its metamorphosis. It has been ascertained 

 also that slugs and snails are the appropriate food of the 

 glow-worm, nor does the shell of the snail suffice to protect 

 it from the assault of the insect, although the combat may 



* Edin. New Phil. Journ. viii. 395. 



f Edin. New Phil. Journ. i. 37. The editor remarks : " The cuttlefish 

 occurs in abundance in many of our estuaries and coasts, but has hitherto 

 been considered as of no value. Now that it is known to form an excellent 

 bait for cod, and even for other fishing, it is not to be doubted that it will 

 in future, in this country, be used with equal advantage and profit as a bait 

 for the capture of our cod, ling, &c." The species which occurs most 

 abundantly on the British coast is Lol. vulgaris, which would doubtless prove 

 as attractive as the Lol. piscatorum. Mr. Couch, in his " Cornish Fauna," 

 p. 81, says it a is a favourite bait among fishermen, few fish being able to 

 resist it." Cuttlefish in general are extensively used for bait on the French 

 coast. 



Aud. and M. Edwards lib. cit. i. 300. 



