MOLLUSKS 165 
tunately it is now lost. The largest ever seen was stranded—while 
yet alive—on the coast of Newfoundland, and was cut up for dog 
meat by the fishermen who captured it. Its body was said to have 
been twenty feet and the tentacles thirty-five feet in length. The 
fabulous Kraken of the Norsemen was probably a giant squid. In 
their old sea-tales we read of its devouring ships, and indeed it is 
well established that large squids have at times attacked fisher- 
men’s boats. 
In every respect, excepting size, these monsters resemble the 
little short-tailed squid of the New England coast. Nothing 1s 
known of the habits of the giant squid, although it probably lives 
in deep water off the Banks and only occasionally comes to the sur- 
face at night. Powerful as these monsters are, they are greedily 
devoured by the sperm whale. 
The American Devil-Fish, (Octopus americanus, Pig. ees) 
This creature is found upon the coral reefs of Florida and the 
West Indies, where it lives within rocky crevices, the color of which 
it exactly matches. Here it lies in wait for prey, and the floor and 
entrance of its den are strewn with the broken shells of mollusks 
and crustacea that have fallen victims to the Octopus. It also 
glides ghost-like over the sands, resembling the glistening white 
bottom so completely that it is all but invisible. This gliding 
movement is accomplished by opening and closing the umbrella- 
like web that forms a span between the bases of the arms. At every 
such pulsation the creature shoots backward, trailing its eight long 
arms, which extend straight outward. The creature can also accom- 
plish the same movement, or a side motion, by expelling the water 
from its siphon tube, which usually projects out to one side from 
the edge of the mantle. If grasped the writhing arms, with their 
double rows of suckers, instantly seize upon the tormentor, and the 
sharp, parrot-like beak inflicts a painful wound. Ink is also ejected 
from the siphon, and a wonderful play of colors pass over the body, 
flashing steely blue, green, brilliant white, rusty red or dull brown, 
When removed from the water the creature thrashes about in hide- 
ous contortions for a few minutes and then dies utterly exhausted. 
The eyes are frog-like and prominent, with a slit-shaped pupil, and 
the skin around them can be drawn together from all sides, form- 
ing a veritable eye-lid. The body is soft and rounded and there 
