HABITS OF TIIK CKl'IIAl-OI'ODA. 71 



(isli olf from his hold on the rocks, but without effect for some 

 time. At last the fish, perhaps thinking it had not got sufficient 

 hold or power upon its prey, loosened itself from the stones and 

 quickly transferred its feelers or arms around the diver's legs 

 and body. In this })osition Smale thought the best thing for 

 him to do was to get n\) on deck as soon as possible, and he 

 quickl}^ made for the ladder which reaches from the deck of the 

 punt to the bottom of the river. The diver was certainly a 

 curious looking object when he came up. This huge, ugl}' look- 

 ing thing appeared to be entangled all over him, holding him in 

 a firm embrace. However, Mr. Smale's fellow-workmen were 

 not long in freeing him from the unfriendly hug of his submarine 

 companion. The body portion of the Octopus was only about 

 the size of a large soup-plate, with e^'es in its head like those of 

 a sheep, but it possessed nine arms, each about four feet in 

 length, at the butt as thick as a man's wrist, tapering off at the 

 end to as fine a point as that of a penknife ; thus it could spread 

 over an area of 9 feet in diameter. All the way along the under- 

 neath part of each feeler are suckers CA^er}' quarter of an inch, 

 giving it immense power. Mr. Smale declares it was powerful 

 enough to keep three men under water. — Warrnambool ( Auh- 

 tralia) Standai'd, 1818. 



VJI. Lucie L. Hartt thus relates her experience with an 

 Octopus : 



It was during my first visit to IJrazil, that one day, while 

 busily engaged in examining a reef at a little town on the coast 

 called Guarapar}', my eye fell on an object in a shallow tide- 

 pool, packed away in the crevice of the reef, which excited m}^ 

 curiosity. I could see nothing but a pair of very bright eyes ; 

 but, concluding that the eyes had an owner, I determined very 

 rashly to secure him. I had been handling corals, and seemed 

 to have forgotten that all the inhabitants of the sea are not harm- 

 less. I put my hand down verj' quietly so as not to ruffle the 

 water, when, suddenly, to my surprise, it was seized with a pres- 

 sure far too ardent to be agreeable, and I was held fast. I 

 tugged hard to get away, but this uncivil individual, whoever he 

 was,' evidently had as strong a hold on the rocks as he had on 



