or broken off at the base. With the loss of these 

 primary grasping organs, the creature was ren- 

 dered practically powerless to apprehend its prey, 

 with the consequence that soon or late starvation 

 must ensue. That weakness from this cause led to 

 its demise, I have every reason to suspect; but as to 

 how it came by the loss of its appendages, I cannot 

 even guess. It might be added, however, that this 

 form of mutilation is more curious than this par- 

 ticular instance would seem to indicate: for since 

 that eventful date, not a year has passed which has 

 not brought to my nets or to my notice in other 

 ways some of these individuals maimed in the same 

 mysterious way. Beside the evidence of its skin, 

 slight lacerations on its body indicated that it had 

 been attacked. It is probable that, from the cir- 

 cumstance that the normal animal is one of the 

 swiftest and ablest swimmers in the sea, these lat- 

 ter injuries had been inflicted while it was in a 

 defenceless and moribund condition. 



For a moment I studied the dead creature, noting 

 the faint purplish freckling of its chromatophores 

 (as the pigment cells underlying the skin are 

 called) which spread over its back and to a lesser 

 extent around its sides, leaving the body livid 



[325] 



