REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [ 12 ] 
length of the body also. It is even possible that this was the same 
specimen from which the beak and suckers described as No. 4, from 
Bonavista Bay, were derived, for the date of capture of that specimen 
is unknown to me. The latter, however, was much smaller than the 
above measurements, and it is, therefore, desirable to give a special 
number (11) to the present one. 
No. 12.— 'Harbor Grace specimen, lS74-’75. 
Another specimen, which we have designated as No. 12, was cast 
ashore, in the winter of 1874-’75, near Harbor Grace, but was destroyed 
before its value became known, and no measurements were given. 
No. 13. —Fortune Bay specimen, 1874. 
Plate IX, figure 11. 
A specimen was cast ashore, December, 1874, at Grand Bank, Fortune 
Bay, Newfoundland. As in the case of several of the previous speci¬ 
mens, I was indebted to the Bev. M. Harvey for early information con¬ 
cerning this one, and also for the jaws and one of the large suckers of 
the tentacular arms, obtained through Mr. Simms, these being the only 
parts preserved. Although this specimen went ashore in December, 
Mr. Harvey did not hear of the event until March, owing to the unusual 
interruption of travel by the severity of the winter. He informed me 
that Mr. George Simms, magistrate of Grand Bank, had stated in a 
letter to him that he examined the creature a few hours after it went 
ashore, but not before it had been mutilated by the removal of the tail 
by the fishermen, who finally cut it up as food for their numerous dogs; 
and that the long tentacular arms were 26 feet long and 16 inches in 
circumference; the short arms were about one-third as long as the long 
ones; the “back of the head or neck was 36 inches in circumference” 
(evidently meaning the head behind the bases of the arms); the length 
of the body “from the junction to the tail” was 10 feet (apparently 
meaning from the ba se of the arms to the origin of the caudal fins). He 
thought that the tail, which had been removed, was about one-third as 
long as the body, but this was probably overestimated. In No. 14 the 
tail, from its origin or base, was about one fifth as long as the balance 
of the body and head. Applying the same proportions to No. 13, the 
head and body together would have been 12 feet. v In a letter to me, 
dated October 27, 1875, Mr. Simms confirmed the above measurements, 
but stated that the Ion g arms had been detached, and that the bases of 
the arms measured as those of the tentacular arms (they had previously 
been cut off about a foot from the head), were triangular in outline, the 
sides being res pectively 5, 6, 5 inches in breadth, the longest or outer 
side being convex and the two lateral sides straight. He, moreover, says 
that all the arms were covered with large suckers from the base outward. 
Hence, it is probable that he made a mistake as to these stumps, and 
