Curious Creatures 199 



Devilfishes, or cephalopods, are highly organized 

 mollusks, being very close relatives of clams, snails, 

 slugs, etc., and they are primarily distinguished by their 

 tentacular sucker arms arranged in a radial manner on 

 the head around the region of the mouth. They are 

 carnivorous, or flesh-eating, and subsist chiefly on 

 nshes and crustaceans. There is some evidence that 

 certain squids are at least part vegetarian in their diet, 

 for several six-foot specimens captured off Catalina 

 Island, California, were found to have their stomachs 

 full of seaweed. 



Squids range in size from the little sepiolas of about 

 an inch long to the giant Architeuthis, the largest 

 known invertebrate, which measures, it is said, nearly 

 fifty feet over the entire length of its body. These 

 large creatures are all inhabitants of deep waters, and 

 have never been seen alive near the shore. They are 

 probably very scarce, as few have ever been discovered ; 

 even of these, none was In a perfect condition when 

 found, owing to the violence of storms or the attacks 

 of whales. Sperm whales live almost entirely on cepha- 

 lopods, which they destroy in countless numbers in their 

 excursions through the open sea. The common squids 

 of my vicinity do not attain to more than a foot and a 

 half In length. They are rovers and generally travel in 

 schools, following shoals of young fishes or minnows. 

 Often, however, a lone raider will stalk Its prey. And 

 in so doing, it presents some remarkable color changes. 

 This property of changing its color, shared by all 

 cephalopods. Is due to the chromatophores covering the 

 surface of Its body. The principle on which the pig- 

 ment cells work Is somewhat like that obtaining in the 



