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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



helpless, you feel yourself slowly emptied into this frightful sac, which 

 is a monster. To be eaten alive is more than terrible ; but to be drunk 

 alive is inexpressible ! " 



This overwrought but wonderfully dramatic description (but a small 

 part of which we have quoted) at once excited a popular interest in the 

 habits and history of the octopus, though it was well known and de- 

 scribed by Aristotle before the Christian era. Moreover, the animal so 



Fig 1.— Octopus or Devil-Fish ( Octopus vulgaris). 



graphically pictured by the novelist was a mere " baby devil " in com- 

 parison with many which exist, and which have been described by that 

 enthusiastic naturalist, Prof. Verrill, of Yale College. 



In a letter addressed to me on this subject by Prof. Spencer F. 

 Baird, under date of April 1, 1878, this distinguished naturalist says : 

 "The giant squid in the New York Aquarium can only be designated 

 as an infant or dwarf in comparison with the gigantic species of the 

 Pacific Ocean— those upon which the sperm-whale is known to feed. 

 Chunks of squid-remains are not infrequently found in the throat or 

 stomach of the sperm-whale, apparently indicating specimens from ten 

 to fifty times the size of the Newfoundland variety. I was informed 

 that a considerably larger specimen than that at New York was cast 

 ashore at Newfoundland later in the season. The arms of the latter, if 

 I recollect right, were some ten feet longer than those of the other." 



The specimen referred to by Prof. Baird, as at the public aquarium 

 in New York, is of the species known as Architeuthis princeps. It 

 measures about forty feet, and is preserved in alcohol. I have in a bot- 

 tle some specimen portions of the sucking-disks, showing the serrated 

 edges, from the arms of this terrible animal ; and I have also a perfect 

 specimen of a smaller species of the animal itself in my private collec- 

 tion. 



Prof. Yerrill's reports apply to the devil-fish found in our northern 

 seas, and Prof. Baird mentions those cast ashore at Newfoundland; but 



