1 1 6 The Commercial Prodttds of the Sea. 



CHAPTER X. 



CEPHALOPODS, ETC., AS FOOD. 



Dried cuttle-fish as food — Consumption of octopods and polypi in the coun- 

 tries bordering on the Mediterranean— Prices in Tunis — Mode of capture 

 and preparation — Squid used for bait by the North American fishermen — 

 Cuttle-fish bone and sepia — Large consumption of dried cuttle-fish in 

 China — Species of Echinus eaten — Palolo viridis^ a kind of sea-worm, 

 edible ; fishery for, in the Pacific. 



The flesh of the large cephalopodous animals was esteemed 

 as a delicacy by the ancients. Most of the eastern natives, 

 and those of the Polynesian Islands, partake of it and 

 relish it as food. They are exposed for sale, dried, in the 

 bazaars or markets throughout India, and in the Food 

 Collection arranged at the East End Museum, Bethnal 

 Green, dried cuttle-fish may be seen among the articles of 

 Chinese, Japanese, and Siamese food. In Chili the flesh is 

 also considered a delicacy, and in Barbados the bastard 

 cuttle-fish or calmar {Loligo sagittata, Lam.) is used as an 

 article of food by the lower classes. But from my small 

 experience of this kind of diet, notwithstanding the asser- 

 tion of the learned Bacon in his "Experiment Solitary 

 touching Cuttle Ink," that the cuttle is accounted as a 

 delicate meat, and is much in request, I should say that it 



