IN DEFENSE OF OCTOPUSES 301 



cylindrical body which had a circumference of twelve feet. 

 The eye of this fabulous animal was seven by nine inches, the 

 largest visual organ in the world. The suckers had a diameter 

 of two and a quarter inches, and as some of the scars on cap- 

 tured whales have exceeded this measurement it is not unrea- 

 sonable to assume that there may exist somewhere in the 

 abyssal depths of the North Atlantic still larger squid of per- 

 haps sixty or seventy feet. Even these amazing squid, how- 

 ever, are preyed upon by the great sperm whales which tear 

 them apart with their long shearing teeth. In that old classic 

 and favorite "The Cruise of the Cachalot," the author, Mr. 

 Frank Bullen, gives a vivid description of a battle between a 

 large sperm whale and one of these squid. 



"At about eleven a. m.," he writes, "I was leaning over the 

 rail, gazing steadily at the bright surface of the sea, when there 

 was a violent commotion in the sea right where the moon's 

 rays were concentrated, so great that, remembering our posi- 

 tion, I was at first inclined to alarm all hands, for I had often 

 heard of volcanic islands suddenly lifting their heads from the 

 depths below, or disappearing in a moment, and ... I felt 

 doubtful indeed of what was now happening. Getting the night, 

 glasses out of the cabin scuttle where they were always hung 

 in readiness, I focused them on the troubled spot, perfectly 

 satisfied by a short examination that neither volcano nor earth- 

 quake had anything to do with what was going on; yet so vast 

 were the forces engaged that I might well have been excused 

 for my first supposition. A very large whale was locked in 

 deadly conflict with a cuttlefish or squid almost as large as 

 himself, whose interminable tentacles seemed to enclose the 

 whole of his great body. The -head of the whale especially 

 seemed a perfect network of writhing arms, naturally, I sup- 

 pose, for it appeared as if the whale had the tail part of the 

 mollusk in his jaws, and, in a business-like methodical way was 



