CLASS I. CEPHALOPODA: ORDER 1. DIBR ANCII I AT A. 501 



Genus OMMASTREPHES: Ommastrephes. — This includes the Sagittated Calamaries — 

 called Sea-Arrows by the sailors — two inches to nearly a foot long. Of these there are more than 

 a dozen species, frequenting the open sea in all climates. They are to a great extent the food of 

 the dolphins and cachalots, as well as the albatrosses and penguins. One species is very ex- 

 tensively used as bait for the codfisheries of Newfoundland, and is more successful than any 

 other. To procure this squid, men go out in boats in July and August to a certain part of the 

 harbor of St. John's, where the animal is always more abundant than at any other spot; they 

 are provided with squid-JH/gers, a formidable apparatus consisting of about a dozen hooks, three 

 inches long, so soldered together in the shank that the points radiate in all directions. These 

 are not baited, but dropped into the water, one line in each hand, and are jerked up and down 

 with a uniform motion. To see from the shore a line of boats, with a hundred and fifty men 

 standing side by side, all with their elbows see-sawing together, is quite amusing. The animals 

 are hooked of course in any part of the body, and when drawn up from the water, their first 

 impulse is to eject their copious stream of ink. This is done in about a quarter of a minute 

 after leaving the water, and the fishermen, from long habit, are sufficiently expert to take them 

 from the jigger and throw them into the boat before they perform this action, or to hold them 

 in such a manner that the funnel shall point outward, and the liquor be discharged into the sea. 

 A slight warning is given, however, by a contraction of the animal the moment previous. A 

 novice at the employment is sure to be grievously defiled. An amusing anecdote is current in 

 respect to a young English captain, making some pretensions to fashion, who had been decoyed 

 by some rogues of fishermen to accompany them one morning on a squid-jigging excursion. 

 Utterly unconscious of any peculiarity, he went, and the wicked fellows suftered him with much 

 complacency to draw up tlie first squid : but lo ! in taking it from the hooks a torrent of ink was 

 poured over his face, frilled shirt, and white waistcoat, descending in long streams even to his 

 boots. It needs scarcely to be observed, that this votary of the Graces henceforwai-d relinquished 

 ^^^- _* squid-jigging to more congenial souls. 



It seems to be a species of this genus which, under 

 the name of Flying- Squid, is mentioned by Mr. F. 

 D. Bennett as numerous in the vicinity of the Sand- 

 wich Islands, where it is considered a luxury by all 

 classes, and when fresh and well cooked, is excellent 

 food, in consistence and flavor not unlike a lobster's 

 claw. This species has the power of taking flying 

 leaps out of its native element ; Mr. Bennett says 

 that in latitude 28° to 31° north, and longitude 154° 

 to 161° west, flying-fish, and, nearly allied to these 

 in their movements, flying-squids, were also nu- 

 merous. During a calm the latter appeared in 

 larger flights than they had ever been before wit- 

 nessed, persecuted probably by the albicores ; they 

 rose from the sea in large flocks, leaping over its 

 smooth surface, much in the same manner, and to 

 the same height and distance as the flying-fish. 

 Many of them were captured by birds during their 

 leaps, and one individual, in making a desperate ef- 

 fort to escape some aquatic pursuer, sprang to a con- 

 siderable height above the bulwarks of the ship, and 

 fell with violence on the deck. 



Genus ONYCHOTEUTIIIS : Onychoteuthis.-- 

 Of this there are several species, found in the Medi- 

 terranean and in the Pacific Ocean. In Cook's first 

 voyage the dead carcass of a gigantic species was found floating in the sea between Cape^ Horn 

 and the Polynesian Islands; it was surrounded by sea-birds, which were busily devourmg it. 



THE HOOKED SQUID. 



