WELL ENTITLED TO THE APPELLATION. 259 



capable of extending itself, without any inconvenience, 

 to twenty-five or thirty times the length that it pre- 

 sents at another period. 



It varies very considerably in colour as it contracts 

 or extends itself, changing from a dusky to a reddish- 

 brown; but it has, when placed in a strong light, 

 especially in the sunshine, a gloss of a fine rich purple 

 all over : when most contracted, it appears nearly 

 black. 



Having thus watched this remarkable animal for a 

 fortnight, giving it daily a fresh supply of sea-water, 

 I put it into a bottle which, by-the-by, though the 

 bottle was wide-mouthed, I effected with no little 

 trouble, owing to its facility of extending and con- 

 tracting itself, and likewise from its being so slippery. 

 When, however, this was done, I poured upon it some 

 spirits. It was convulsed, and became greatly con- 

 tracted in regard to length, and in an instant, to my 

 great surprise, it projected from its head a proboscis 

 which was eight inches in length. . It is very strange, 

 that during the space of time above stated, and the 

 various treatment which the creature had experienced, 

 it never in the least exhibited this part of itself till in 

 its dying convulsion. 



It being impossible while the animal was alive to 

 make any reasonable conjecture as to the length of it, 

 I took it out of the bottle and measured it after it was 

 dead, when I found it to be full two-and-twenty feet 

 long, exclusive of the proboscis. Now, I give it as 

 my firm opinion, that I speak within bounds when I 

 say, the animal, when alive, might have been extended 

 to four times the length it presented when dead. I 



