~ would wait until the fishes came back, and when they were swim- 
172 CUTTLE-FISHES. 
were captured by Mr: Vinal N. Edwards, for the U. S. Fish Com- 
mission. These young squids are devoured in inconceivable num- 
bers by fishes of many kinds, and also by the larger jelly-fishes, and 
many other marine animals. 
The larger sizes, and even the adults, are also greedily devoured’ 
by blue-fish, black- bass, striped-bass, weak- fish, mackerel, cod, and 
many other kinds of fishes. Therefore these “squids” are really 
of great importance as food for our most valuable market fishes. 
Ommastrephes illecebrosa. This is the most common squid north 
of Cape Cod, and extends as far south as Long Island, and 
Newport, Mass. It is very abundant in Massachusetts Bay, a 
the Bay of Fundy, and northward. It differs from the spe- 
cies of Loligo in having distinct eyelids, and also in the 
more elongated form of its body and the shorter caudal fin. Its 
internal shell or “bone” is slender in the middle and expanded 
at each end, instead of being quill-shaped, as in the two pre- 
ceding species. Messrs. S. I. Smith and Oscar Harger ob- 
served it at TOTAS, Massachusetts, among the wharves, 
in large numbers, July 28, 1872, engazed in capturing anq de- 
vouring the young mackerel, which were swimming about in 
“schools” and at that time were about four or five inches long. Inv 
attacking the mackerel they would suddenly dart backward among 
the fish with the velocity of an arrow, and as suddenly turn ob- . 
liquely to the right or left and seize a fish, which was almost in- 
stantly killed by a bite in the back of the neck with their sharp 
ks. 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 un 
_ successful attempts, one of the squids would suddenly drop to the 
bottom, and, resting upon the sand, would change its color to that — 
_ of the sand so perfectly as to be almost invisible. In this way it 
ea sek i Sacer e 4a et oe A EE 
HA 
ee 
~- ming close to or over the ambuscade, the squid, by a sudden dart, 
would be pretty sure to secure a fish. Ordinarily, when swimming, 
(3 aa 
o * This species is not well figured in the last spel of Gould’s wom ape 
ee 25, fig. 339, which Mr. Binney refers to-it, really represents a Loligo. 26, figs: : 
:  —3H (e r referred igopsis pavo), = a eens made foe a specimen 
: stip gr wen ere incorrectly drawn. 
