terror-striking tail, but I doubt whether these 

 physical features considered by themselves are ade- 

 quate to account for the feeling of dread which 

 Loligo inspires. There is in this creature, as in no 

 other living thing, the aspect of a machine of weird 

 efficiency: and the singular parts serve only to 

 emphasize this aspect. 



And yet this much maligned mollusk is not 

 without a beauty of sorts. Will it surprise the 

 reader to learn that despite first outward appear- 

 ances to the contrary Loligo is tractable, that be- 

 neath a fearsome exterior is a really engaging 

 personality, that its general habits and life history 

 have a most peculiar charm*? 



So at least was my discovery when later my ill- 

 inspired interest inevitably led me to further our 

 acquaintance in its natural haunts along the 

 Sound. Who of us, in our everyday superficial con- 

 tacts, have not at some time met with persons whom 

 at first sight we regarded with instinctive dislike, 

 only to find later, when some chance or circum- 

 stance brings about a better understanding, that 

 our antipathy resolves into sentiments of love? I 

 am here referring, of course, not to those serene 



[33o] 



