CLASS I. CEPHALOPODA: ORDEE 1. DIBRANCHI ATA. 501 
Genus OMMASTREPHES: Ommastrepkes. — This includes the Sagittated Calamaries — 
called Sea-Arrows hj the sailors — two inches to nearly a foot long. Of these there are more than 
a dozen species, frequenting the open sea in all climates. They are to a great extent the food of 
the dolphins and cachalots, as well as the albatrosses and penguins. One species is very ex- 
tensively used as bait for the codfisheries of Newfoundland, and is more successful than any 
other. To procure this squid, men go out in boats in July and August to a certain part of the 
harbor of St. John's, where the animal is always more abundant than at any other spot; they 
are provided with squid-jiggers, a formidable apparatus consisting of about a dozen hooks, three 
inches long, so soldered together in the shank that the points radiate in all directions. These 
are not baited, but dropped into the water, one line in each hand, and are jerked up and down 
with a uniform motion. To see from the shore a line of boats, with a hundred and fifty men 
standing side by side, all with their elbows see-sawing together, is quite amusing. The animals 
are hooked of course in any part of the body, and when drawn up from the water, their first 
impulse is to eject their copious stream of ink. This is done in about a quarter of a minute 
after leaving the water, and the fishermen, from long habit, are suflSciently expert to take them 
from the jigger and throw them into the boat before they perform this action, or to hold them 
in such a manner that the funnel shall point outward, and the Hquor be discharged into the sea. 
A slight warning is given, however, by a contraction of the animal the moment previous. A 
novice at the employment is sure to be grievously defiled. An amusing .anecdote is current in 
respect to a young English captain, making some pretensions to fashion, who had been decoyed 
by some rogues of fishermen to accompany them one morning on a squid-jigging excursion. 
Utterly unconscious of any pecuharity, he went, and the wicked fellows sufiTered him with much 
complacency to draw up the first squid : but lo ! in taking it from the hooks a torrent of ink was 
poured over his face, frilled shirt, and white waistcoat, descending in long streams even to his 
boots. It needs scarcely to be observed, that this votary of the Graces henceforward relinquished 
squid-jigging to more congenial souls. 
It seems to be a species of this genus which, iinder 
the name of Flying-Squid, is mentioned by Mr. F. 
D. Bennett as numerous in the vicinity of the Sand- 
wich Islands, where it is considered a luxury by all 
classes, and when fresh and well cooked, is excellent 
food, in consistence and flavor not unlike a lobster's 
claw. This species has the power of taking flying 
leaps out of its native element ; Mr. Bennett says 
that in latitude 28° to 31° north, and longitude 154° 
to 161° west, flying-fish, and, nearly allied to these 
in their movements, flying-squids, were also nu- 
merous. During a calm the latter appeared in 
larger flights than they had ever been before wit- 
nessed, persecuted probably by the albicores ; they 
rose from the sea in large flocks, leaping over its 
smooth surface, much in the same manner, and to 
the same height and distance as the flying-fish. 
Many of them were captured by birds during their 
leaps, and one individual, in making a desperate ef- 
fort to escape some aquatic pursuer, sprang to a con- 
siderable height above the bulwarks of the ship, and 
fell with violence on the deck. 
Genus ONYCHOTEUTHIS : Onychoteuthis.— 
Of this there are several species, found in the Medi- 
terranean and in the Pacific Ocean. In Cook's first 
voyage the dead carcass of a gigantic species was found floating in the sea between Cape Horn 
and the Polynesian Islands ; it was surrounded by sea-birds, which were busily devouring it. 
THE HOOKED SQUID. 
