THE IMPENETRABLE SEA 



gives the cephalopods not merely the base for their 

 muscles but also the ''cushioning" that they need to 

 resist the pressures of the depths. It also has buoyant 

 qualities. It is found in many of the planktonic groups 

 and nekton, in nemertean and annelid creatures, in the 

 angler-fishes, and in the larvae of fishes like the eels, 

 apart from its presence in cephalopods. One of its ex- 

 traordinary characteristics is its compressibility. Cepha- 

 lopods might be appropriately described as the Houdinis 

 of the seas. They are not only performers of vanishing 

 tricks, but are escapists of no mean ability. 



N. J. Berrill tells the story of a naturalist who had 

 caught a small octopus, about two feet in length, and had 

 confined it in a wicker basket, which he took on to a 

 street car with him. Ten minutes later there were screams 

 from the other passengers. The octopus had squeezed 

 itself through a crack only a half-inch wide and had 

 crawled on to the lap of a lady, who was in hysterics. 



The word "compressible" assumes startling signi- 

 ficance when applied to cephalopods. Experiments made 

 with them have elicited facts regarding their remarkable 

 powers that really justify such adjectives as "fantastic" 

 and "sensational" — even that most misused of adjectives 

 of modern times, "fabulous". 



Roy Waldo Miner, at one time the Curator of Living 

 Invertebrates in the American Museum of Natural 

 History, was collecting specimens with a companion near 

 some coral reefs in Puerto Rico, when he captured a 

 small octopus, the body of which was about two inches 

 long, although with its arms fully extended it measured 

 about a foot across. Miner had an empty cigar box handy 

 and he put the creature into it, tucking in its eight arms. 

 The octopus was a tight fit in the cigar box. Miner put 

 on the lid and secured it by hammering in a number of 

 tacks, and tying some stout cord around it several times. 

 Houdini himself was never fastened into a box more 

 securely or tied up more carefully than that octopus. 



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