82 tilt; ANTIC CEPJIALOPODS. 



A letter fiuiii a "• very Sober perstm in Dubliu " mentiuas that 

 " The head was not soe bigg as my fist, tiie niontli and two hard 

 shells upon it very blaek and shai)'d like to an Eagle's JJill, but 

 broailer ; in the month there was two tongues, and (as the Man 

 deelared that tooke this monster) the Beast had naturall power 

 to draw this head in or putt it out of the Body as necessity 

 required." 



Such are the essential portions of a eoniniuuication made by 

 Mr. A. G. More, h\ L. 8., to The Zoologist (page 452(5, 1875). 

 Whether the " Monster " shall be classified on the faith of Mr. 

 More, as a new cephalopod, or whether it would be better 

 arranged among the Irish Bulls as a marine form thereof, I leave 

 to the discrimination of my readers. Mr. Verrill, who is good 

 authorit}', thinks it is Archileatliia monachiis Steenstrup. 



The American Spor/.sman for Dec. Oth, ISTo, contains a well- 

 authenticated account of a huge cephalt)i)od lately encountered 

 in Conce[)tion Bay, Newfoundland, one; of the longer arms of the 

 same having been secured and dei)osited in thi' St. John's 

 Museum. The full desci"iptiou of the monster as contributed by 

 the Rev. M. Harvey, of St. John's, ni:iy l>e thus condensed: 



Twofishernien while i)lying their vocation olf Gri>at Belle Island, 

 Conception l^ay, Oct. 26th, 1873, suddenly discovered, at a short 

 distance from them, a dark shapeless mass floating on the sur- 

 face of the water. Concluding that it w;is [)rol)al)ly part of the 

 cargo of some wrecked vessel, they api)roached, anticipating a 

 valuable prize, and one of them struck the object with his boat- 

 hook. Upon receiving the shock the dark heapbecauKj suddc^nly 

 animated, and showed an intelligent face, with a pair of large 

 prominent ghastly eyes, which seemed to gleajii with intense 

 ferocity, the creature at the same time exjjosing to view, and 

 oi)ening, its i)arrot-like beak with an apparently hostile and 

 malignant purpose. The men were petrified witii terror, and for 

 a moment so fascinated b^'^ the horrible sight as to be powerless 

 to stir. Before they had time to recover their i)resence of mind, 

 the monster, now but a few feet from the boat, suddenly shot out 

 from around its head several long arms of corpse-like ileshiness, 

 grappling with them for the boat and seeking to envelop it in 

 their folds. Only two of these reached the craft, and, owing to 



