1881.] The Squid of the Newfoundland Banks. 367 
fleet. I am told that in early days salt bait of clams or fish was 
in universal use, but of late some sort of fresh bait has seemed a 
necessity, and the squid has become the favorite form. This 
they are forced to procure at Newfoundland, and they have thus 
opened a new traffic to the people of the island, and caused, too, 
at times, much hostility’and ill-feeling. 
During the summer and fall of 1879, I had the opportunity of 
spending three months on a codfishing schooner, for the purpose 
of making zodlogical collections, and also of studying the men 
and their methods; this gave me a chance to visit a large num- 
ber of harbors, and to study in some detail the matter of bait. 
The bait used during the latter part of the year is the squid; not 
Loligo pealii Les,, the common form of the ocean waters south of 
Cape Cod, but Ommastrephes illecebrosa Quatr., a more northern 
species readily distinguished by its movable eyelids. So many 
good descriptions and figures of this species are in the reach of 
€very one, that any description of the creature is unnecessary in 
this place. For accurate description of the wonderful changes of 
color in the integument, I would refer the reader to Professor 
Verrill’s account}, 
The squid does not appear early in the year, during which time- 
the herring, Clupea harengus, and the capelin, Mallotus villosus, are 
used, but “strikes” late in June or early in July, touching first upon 
the southern points of the island. The natives and the fishermen 
agree in the opinion that the squid migrates steadily northward 
during the season, appearing first in the northern harbors two 
weeks later than in the southern, and finally lingering at northern 
points in the island after they have entirely disappeared from 
those further south. One is induced, moreover, to believe in a 
Migration among the squid, from the intermittent manner in 
which they are captured. At one time they are taken as fast as 
they can be hauled in, while, again, scarcely any can be caught. 
Furthermore, captures of different times will often average very 
differently in size, indicating that those of the same ages move in 
the same schools, and that one school is replaced by another. 
Thus on one day we secured a large number of very large squid, 
the largest measuring 290 mm. and the average 265 mm. from 
base of tentacles to tip of tail, but on the following day could ob- 
tain none whose length was greater than 190 mm. 
Invertebrates Vineyard Sound, PP. 442-443, 1874. 
