329 THE OCEAN. 
sucker-cup of the long feet, a sharp projecting 
hook. ‘On the smooth and glossy scales of fishes, 
lubricated with slime, it might not be always easy 
at once to create a vacuum; but these hooks are 
plunged by the action of the sucker into the flesh 
of the struggling victim, whereby a firm hold is 
obtained, and the prey is dragged to the powerful 
beak. , 
Some of these animals frequent the crevices and 
holes of the rocks, whence they protrude their long 
arms for the capture of prey. They form an ac- 
ceptable article of food to the South-Sea islanders, 
who have exercised their ingenuity in devising a 
mode of entrapping them. The instrument employ- 
ed for this purpose is described as a straight piece 
of hard wood, a foot long, round, and polished, and 
not half an inch in diameter. Near one end of 
this, a number of the most beautiful pieces of the 
cowry, or tiger-shell, are fastened one over another, 
like the scales of a fish or the plates of a piece of 
armour, until it is about the size of a turkey’s egg, 
and resembles the cowry. It is suspended in a 
horizontal position, by a strong line, and lowered 
by the fisherman from a small canoe, until it nearly 
reaches the bottom. The fisherman then gently 
jerks the line, causing the shell to move as if inhabit- 
ed by an animal. The Cuttle, deceived by the ap- 
pearance of the supposed cowry (for no bait is used), 
darts out one of its arms, which it winds around 
the shell, adhering fast by its suckers. The fish- 
erman continues jerking the line, and the Cuttle 
strengthens its hold by affixing more of its arms, 
