170 NATURAL HISTORY. 



shooting through the water. Whenever they strike the shore they commence pumping the water with 

 increased violence, while every effort only tends to throw them still farther upon the sands, until 

 they are left high and dry. The body is beautifully spotted with colours, which seem to vary with 

 the emotions of the animal. At one moment they appear to be of a vivid red, at the next a deep 

 t>lue, violet, brown, or orange. They devour immense numbers of small fish, and it is amusing to 

 watch their movements, and see how, at a distance of several feet, they will poise themselves, and in 

 an instant, with the rapidity of lightning, the prey is seized in their long arms and instantaneously 

 devoured. They, in their turn, are a prey to the larger fishes." 



On the coast of Newfoundland the bait used for the Cod-fishery at the commencement of May is 

 the Herring ; during June, July, and August the Capelin ; and about the end of August and 

 throughout September they use the Squids, which come into the bays in great abundance. They 

 are caught by means of a "jigger," which is a conical piece of lead, round the circumference of the 

 base of which are inserted eight or ten hooks. The fishermen go out in punts Squid-jigging of an 

 evening, to catch bait required for the next day's fishing. About 100 or more Squids are caught by 

 each boat, and thousands of them are taken during the season about 150 or 200 yards from the 

 ^hore, in tolerably deep water. In many stations more than a dozen boats are engaged in Squid- 

 catching. All parts of the Squid are cut up and used as bait ; what is not required the next day is 

 thrown away, or given to the pigs. In the northern district, the fishing spots are between Cape 

 Freels and Cape St. John. The fishing takes place about sun-down. The Squid used so abun- 

 dantly for bait in the Cod-fishery is Ommastrephes sagittatus. 



The Squid is of an oblong cylindrical form. The length of the body is from eight inches to a 

 -foot, and it is about two inches in diameter. The flesh is said by the fishermen to be remarkably 

 good eating, and to be excellent when fried. About the end of September the Squid disappears. 



A crew of three men usually take from 100 to 500 in a day. The Squids come into the bay in 

 such vast shoals that sometimes, during violent gales, hundreds of tons of them are thrown up 

 together in beds on the flat beaches, and their decay spreads an intolerable effluvium around. 



The following accounts of the capture of specimens of giant Cephalopods, although necessarily 

 ; imperfect, and in many instances incapable of careful and complete correlation with one another, 

 .suffice to prove that there exist in the North Atlantic numerous living examples of ten-armed 

 ( Calamaries, of a size surpassing any other members of the Molluscan class. 



Some of these may be referred to Loligo and Ommastrephes ; the majority, however, are no 



( -doubt properly to be referred to the Architeuthis monachus and A. dux of Steenstrup, and in this 



opinion Processor Verrill, who has examined much of the evidence and many of the actual specimens 



Obtained from Newfoundland, agrees. His figures, prepared from photographs and from drawings of 



-parts of several specimens, show it to have had a broadly-expanded internal pen, in form somewhat like 



that of the ancient genus Teudopsis, found fossil in the Jurassic formation. The tail-fin was broadly 



saggittate, or arrow-shaped, and finely pointed at its extremity. The arms had two rows of stalked 



.suckers, and the tentacles, which were of great length (twenty-four feet), were remarkably slender, and 



had their expanded extremities armed with four rows of stalked suckers, with horny serrated borders.* 



In a letter to the late Dr. S. P. Woodward, Dr. Morch states that, according to an old 



Icelandic chronicle, a "sea spectre" (Ommastreplies) was driven ashore in 1639, as long and big as 



'a man. It had seven tails, upwards of two yards long (the eighth was very likely lost), and one veiy 



: long tail (one of the two tentacles, the other being lost), four to five fathoms long. The tails were 



' crowded with buttons, like eyes, with a pupil and eyelid, which were gilt. This evidently refers to 



the suckers. 



On the 2.6th of April, 1875, a very large Calamary was met with on the north-west of Boffin 

 Jsland, Connemara.' The crew of a "curragh" (a boat made like a "coracle," with wooden ribs 

 /covered with tarred canvas) observed to seaward a large floating mass surrounded by gulls. They 

 pulled out to it, believing it to be a wreck, but to their astonishment found that it was an enormous 

 Cuttle-fish, lying perfectly still, as if basking on the surface of the water. Paddling up with caution, 

 they lopped off one of its arms. The animal immediately set out to sea, rushing through the water 

 at a tremendous pace. The men gave chase, and, after a hard pull in their frail canvas craft, came 



* "American Journal of Science and Arts," 1874, 3rd ser., vol. vii., p. 158; 1S7.~>, vol. ix., pp. 123, 177, plates ii.-v. 



