398 Shell Life 



original length must have been greater. The arms 

 were of 'the thickness of a man's leg, and varied from 

 6 to 8 feet long, bearing two rows of toothed suckers. 

 The entire animal is said to have been as large as a 

 big horse, and its beak like an eagle's but broader. 

 Mr. Verrill, who has an intimate acquaintance with 

 the large American species of this genus thinks there 

 is no reason to suppose it was other than A. 

 monachiis. 



This was not the only visit paid to our islands 

 by this species, for Jeffreys has told us how "the 

 mutilated carcase of a huge Cephalopod, perhaps 

 belonging to Steenstrup's species [A. nionachus], was 

 stranded in 1860 or 1861 between Hillswick and 

 Scalloway, on the west of Shetland. From a com- 

 munication received by Professor Allman it appears 

 that the tentacles were 16 feet long, the pedal arms 

 about half that length, and the manfcle-sac 7 feet; 

 the mantle was terminated by fins; one of the 

 suckers examined by Professor Allman was three- 

 quarters of an inch in diameter." 



A more recent example was met with on the north- 

 west of Boffin Island, Connemara, on the 26th of 

 April 1875, when a floating mass surrounded by 

 gulls was observed to seaward and thought to be a 

 wreck. A canvas boat (curragh) was put off to it, 

 but to the astonishment of the crew it was found to 

 be an enormous cuttle-fish, lying still as if basking 

 in the sun. They paddled up cautiously, and suc- 

 ceeded in lopping off an arm before the creature 

 became alarmed. It then rushed out to sea at a 

 tremendous pace, but the canvas boat followed, and 

 by hard pulling for five miles the crew came up to 



