have seen from eighteen to twenty individuals of this
species enclosed at once in the inner chamber of one of our
salmon-wears. The greater number of these shoals I have ordinarily found
dead, and tinged with various shades of green, blue, and yellow--for it
is one of the characteristics of the creature to assume, when passing
into a state of decomposition, a succession of brilliant colours; but I
have seen from six to eight individuals of their number still alive in a
little pool beside the nets, and still retaining their original pink
tint, freckled with red. And these I have observed, as my shadow fell
across their little patch of water, darting from side to side in panic
terror within the narrow confines, emitting ink at almost every dart,
until the whole pool had become a deep solution of sepia. Some of my
most interesting recollections of the cuttle-fish are associated,
however, with the capture and dissection of a single specimen. The
creature, in swimming, darts through the water much in the manner that a
boy slides down an ice-crusted declivity, feet foremost;--the lower or
nether extremities go first, and the head behind: it follows its tail,
instead of being followed by it; and this curious peculiarity in its
mode of progression, though, of course, on the whole, the mode best
adapted to its conformation and instincts, sometimes proves fatal to it
in calm weather, when not a ripple breaks upon the pebbles, to warn that
the shore is near. An enemy appears: the creature ejects its cloud of
ink, like a sharp-shooter discharging his rifle ere he retreats; and
then, darting away, tail foremost, under cover of the cloud, it grounds
itself high upon the beach, and perishes there. I was walking, one very
calm day, along the Cromarty shore, a little to the west of the town,
when I heard a peculiar sound--a _squelch_, if I may employ such a
word--and saw that a large loligo, fully a foot and a half in length,
had thrown itself high and dry upon the beach. I laid hold of it by its
sheath or sack; and the loligo, in turn, laid hold of the pebbles,
apparently to render its abduction as difficult as possible, just as I
have seen a boy, when borne off against his will by a stronger than
himself, grasping fast to door-posts and furniture. The pebbles were
hard and smooth, but the creature raised them very readily with his
suckers. I subjected one of my hands to its grasp, and it seized fast
hold; but though the suckers were sti