and armed with many strong suckers. Wonderful tales and 

 even pictures have come down to us from early times describing 

 most marvelous encounters with giant animals of this type. 

 The pictures show a ship being attacked by an Octopus, which 

 winds some of its tentacles around the topmasts while others 

 encircle the hull of the ship and pick off the frightened sailors at 

 leisure. Even though the ships of those days were much smaller 

 than ours of the present these early accounts must be taken with 

 some allowance for a vivid imagination. Yet it is a fact that there 

 does exist at the present time a species of giant squid measuring 

 as much as twenty feet over the body and more than fifty feet 

 over the tentacles. These squids live in the deeper parts of the 

 ocean and are seldom seen by man. In a few instances they 

 have attacked fishermen's dories and given the occupants a 

 lively tussle. Only about twenty-five of these giant squids 

 have ever been reported on the Atlantic Coast but that they 

 must be more numerous in the deeper parts of the ocean is in- 

 dicated by the fact that their strong beaks are commonly found 

 in the stomachs of sperm whales. 



The smaller squids, such as occur so abundantly on our own 

 coast, inspire none of the awe which may well be associated with 

 the giant squid, but if watched closely under favorable conditions 

 will prove to be unusually interesting and beautiful objects. 

 Their bodies in life are almost transparent and covered with 

 chromatophores of various colors. As different sets of these 

 expand and contract most delicate blushes of color sweep swiftly 

 over the surface of the body, giving it a most illusive appearance. 



When a squid is pursued by a fish it has another and more 

 effective means of protection in the form of an inky fluid which 

 it squirts into the water at will. This ink diffuses rapidly and 

 leaves a dense cloud which blinds the pursuing fish and enables 

 the squid to dodge away in safety. The squid swims by a most 

 peculiar contrivance. Water is drawn into a space between the 

 body and the enveloping mantle and then forcefully expelled 

 through a funnel-like tube. The force of this stream thrusts 



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