No. 8.] MISCELLANEOUS. 473 



monster. The polished sides of the canoe afforded slender means 

 of grasp, and such as remained of the ten great arms slashed 

 round through air and water in most dangerous but unavailing 

 fashion. The trunk of the fish lay alongside, fully as long as the 

 canoe, while, in its extremity, the mutilated animal emitted suc- 

 cessive jets of fluid which darkened the sea for fathoms round. 

 The head at last was severed from the body, which was unman- 

 agable from its great weight, and sank like lead to the bottom 

 of the sea. The remaining portions were stowed away and car- 

 ried ashore, to the utter amazement of the islanders. To quote 

 from ' The Sea and its Living Wonders,' I find it stated that — 

 " Near Van Dieman's Land, Peron saw a sepia as big as a tun 

 rolling about in the waters ; its enormous arms had the appear- 

 ance of snakes. Each of these organs was at least seven feet 

 long, and measured seven or eight inches round the base. These 

 well-authenticated proportions are truly formidable, and fully 

 justify the dread abhorrence Polynesian divers entertain of these 

 snake-armed monsters of the deep. Banks and Solander, in 

 Cook's first voyage, found the dead carcase of a gigantic cuttle- 

 fish floating at Cape Horn. It was surrounded by aquatic birds 

 feeding on the remains. From the parts of this specimen pre- 

 served in the Hunterian Collection, and which have always 

 strongly excited the attention of naturalists, it must have mea- 

 sured at least six feet from end of tail to end of tentacles." If 

 the specimens alluded to above are correctly described as " gigan- 

 tic" and " formidable," well may the capture made at Boffin be 

 regarded as wonderful ; and it is owing to the merest chance 

 that the writer became aware of the circumstance, and possessed 

 himself of such evidence as puts the truth of the matter beyond 

 all doubt. Of the portions of the moUusk taken ashore two of 

 the great arms are intact, and measure eight feet each in length 

 and fifteen inches round the base. The two tentacles attain a 

 length of thirty feet. The mandibles are about four inches across, 

 hooked just like the beak of an enormous parrot, with a very cur- 

 ious tongue. The head, devoid of all appendages, weighed about 

 six stone, and the eyes were about fifteen inches in diameter. 

 Doubtless this account may sound exaggerated, but I hold such 

 portions of the fish as are fully sufficient to establish its enor- 

 mous size, and verify the dimensions above given. — Thomas 

 O'Connor, Sergeant, Royal Irish Constabulary ; Bojfin Island, 

 Connemara, April 28, 1875. — From The Zoologist, June, 1875. 

 Vol. VII. HH No. 8. 



