THE OCTOPUS. 193 
and, from the presence of a bag containing a 
black fluid, is sometimes called the ‘ pen-and-ink ’ 
fish; and third, the ‘ octopus.’ 
The octopus as seen on our coasts, although 
even here called a ‘mansucker’ by the fisher- 
men, is a mere Tom Thumb, a tiny dwarf, as 
compared to the Brobdignagian proportions he 
attains in the snug bays and long inland canals 
along the east side of Vancouver Island, as 
well as on the mainland. These places afford 
lurking-dens, strongholds, and natural sea- 
nurseries, where the octopus grows to an 
enormous size, fattens, and wages war, with 
insatiable voracity, on all and everything it 
can catch. Safe from heavy breakers, it lives 
as in an aquarium of smooth lake-like water, 
that, save in the ebbing and flowing of the 
tide, knows no change or disturbance. 
The ordinary resting-place of this hideous 
‘sea-beast’ is under a large stone, or in the wide 
cleft of a rock, where an octopus can creep and 
squeeze itself with the flatness of a sand-dab, or 
the slipperiness of an eel. Its modes of loco- 
motion are curious and varied: using the eight 
arms as paddles, and working them alternately, 
the central disc representing a boat, octopi row 
themselves along with an ease and celerity 
VOL. I. 0 
