A. E. Verrill- — North American Cephalopoda. 
323 
9. It is probable that those specimens which are taken in large 
quantities, while in breeding condition, during the latter part of May 
and in June, having the mantle 175 to 225 mm long in the females 
and 200 to 275 n,m long in the males, are two years old. 
10. It is probable that the largest individuals taken, with the man- 
tle 300 to 425 mm loug, are at least three years, and perhaps, in some 
cases, four years old. The very large specimens generally occur only 
in small schools and are mostly males. The females that occur with 
these very large males are often of much smaller size, and may be a 
year younger than their mates. 
11. When squids of very different sizes occur together, in a school, 
it generally happens that the larger ones are engaged in devouring 
the smaller ones, as the contents of their stomachs clearly show. 
Therefore it is probable that those of similar age keep together in 
schools for mutual safety. 
12. Among the adult specimens of var. pallida , taken in autumn, 
at Astoria, there are several young ones, from 75 to 120 mm in 
length, with rudimentary reproductive organs. These may, perhaps, 
be the young of the year, hatched in June. 
Distribution. 
This species is found along the whole coast, from South Carolina 
to Massachusetts Bay. 
It is the common squid from Cape Hatteras to Cape Cod. In 
Long Island Sound and Vineyard Sound it is very abundant, and is 
taken in large numbers in the fish-pounds and seines, and used, to 
a large extent, for bait. It is comparatively scarce, though not rare, 
north of Cape Cod. The young were trawled by us in many locali- 
ties, in Mass. Bay, in 1878. Large specimens were taken in the 
pounds at Provincetown, Mass., August, 1879. It was taken in con- 
siderable quantities, in breeding condition, in the fish-pounds on Cape 
Ann, near Gloucester, Mass., May, 1880, (var. borealis). It has not 
been observed north of Cape Ann. Its southern limit is not known 
to me, but it appears to have been found on the coast of South Caro- 
lina. 
In depth, it has occurred from low-water mark to fifty fathoms. 
The eggs have often been taken by us in the trawl, in great abun- 
dance, at many localities along the southern shores of New England, 
in five to twenty-five fathoms. 
It is known to be a very important element in the food-supply of 
the blue fish, tautog, sea-bass, striped bass, weak -fish, king-fish, and 
many other of our larger market fishes. 
Trans. Conn. Acau., Vol. V. 
40 
February, 1881. 
