SQUIDS IN THE FISHERIES. 163 



the bottom, and resting upon the sand would change its color to that of 

 sand so perfectly as to be almost invisible. In this way it would wait 

 until the fishes came back, and when they were swimming close to or 

 over the ambuscade, the squid, by a sudden dart, would be pretty sure 

 to secure a fish. Ordinarily, when swimming, they were thickly spotted 

 with red and brown, but when darting among the mackerel they appeared 

 translucent and pale. The mackerel, however, seemed to have learned 

 that the shallow water is the safest place for them, and would hug the 

 shore as closely as possible, so that in pursuing them many of the squids 

 became stranded and perished by hundreds, for when they once touch 

 the shore they begin to pump water from their siphons with great en- 

 ergy, and this usually forces them farther and farther up the beach. At 

 such times they often discharge their ink in large quantities. The at- 

 tacks on the young mackerel were observed mostly at or near high-water, 

 for at other times the mackerel were seldom seen, though the squids were 

 seen swimming about at all hours ; and these attacks were observed both 

 in the day and evening. But it is probable, from various observations, 

 that this and the other species of squids are partially nocturnal in their 

 habits, or at least are more active in the night than in the day. Those 

 that are caught in the pounds and weirs mostly enter in the night, and 

 evidently when swimming along the shores in schools. They are often 

 found in the morning stranded on the beaches in immense numbers, es- 

 pecially when there is a full moon, and it is thought by many of the fish- 

 ermen that this is because, like many other nocturnal animals, they have 

 the habit of turning towards and gazing at a bright light, and, since they 

 swim backward, they get ashore on the beaches opposite the position of 

 the moon." 



The loss sustained by the fisheries through their voracity is probably 

 equalized by the food which cuttle-fishes furnish to the carnivorous fishes 

 and various other denizens of the deep. For example, the sperm-whale 

 seems to rely largely upon a diet of squids, sinking to the bottom where 

 they are groping about to drag them up, or nipping off their long arms 

 as they swim about nearer the surface. Dolphins and porpoises also prey 

 upon the cuttles, and all the flesh-eating fishes pursue and devour them at 

 every opportunity, particularly the cod and bluefish. 



Knowledge of this fact long ago led to the squid being taken by fisher- 

 men as an attractive bait. More than half of all the Bank fishing is said 

 to be done with such bait. "When the shoals of this mollusk (Loligo 

 squid) approach the coast, hundreds of vessels are ready to capture them, 

 forming an extensive cuttle-fishery, engaging five hundred sail of French, 



