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AMERICAN SQUIDS AND CALAMAEIES. 



very changeable, owing to the alternate contractions of the color-vesicles 

 or spots, but red and brown predominate, so as to give a general purplish- 

 brown color. In early summer this squid resorts to gravelly and weedy 

 bottoms to lay its eggs. They are contained in bunches or clusters, some- 

 times six or eight inches in diameter, consisting of hundreds of gelati- 

 nous capsules, each holding numerous eggs. These clusters are attached 

 to some fixed object, like the oysters upon planted beds. This last oc- 

 currence seems to be a source of decided harm in Delaware Bay, for the 

 oystermen there assert that the larger "seagrapes" (as they call the egg- 

 bunches) lift many oysters from the bottom by their buoyancy, and float 

 them off in stormy weather. 



UNDEB SURFACE OF THE COMMON SQUID — LOLIGO PEALEI. 



North of Cape Cod the " squid " is represented by the sea-arrow or fly- 

 ing calamary (Ommastrephes Ulecebrosa), sometimes called "short-finned" 

 in contrast to the " long-finned " characteristic of the loligos, which they 

 resemble in size and color. 



All of these squids, big and little, are great enemies to fishes, attack- 

 ing any species small enough to be defenceless. The menhaden and 

 mackerel seem to suffer chiefly, and Professor Verrill has described the 

 operation in a graphic way : 



" In attacking the mackerel they would suddenly dart backward among 

 the fish with the velocity of an arrow, and as suddenly turn obliquely to 

 the right and left and seize a fish, which was almost instantly killed by 

 a bite in the back of the neck with the sharp beaks. The bite was always 

 made in the same place, cutting out a triangular piece of flesh, and was 

 deep enough to penetrate to the spinal cord. The attacks were not always 

 successful, and were sometimes repeated a dozen times before one of 

 these active and wary fishes could be caught. Sometimes, after making 

 several unsuccessful attempts, one of the squids would suddenly drop to 



