354 ANNUAL EEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1916. 



struggled, uttered cries of rage which resembled the growl of a fierce watch- 

 dog, and finally attacked me, too, throwing two of its arms about my person. 

 But my brave dog had not been idle. Gathering courage from my advance, he 

 had succeeded in quite tearing off with his strong teeth two of the arms of the 

 cuttle ; and with anotlier struggle he was free. Then, with a fury which I never 

 saw equaled, he attacked the disabled monster, which we together soon over- 

 powered. 



I determined never again to attack an animal of this kind unarmed, or to 

 venture to close quarters with it. 



Beale, an English ph,ysician, v,iio made a whaling voyage in 

 1831-32, described an octopus adventure worth relating. 



While upon the Bonin Islands, searching for shells upon the rocks which 

 had been left by the receding sea tide, I was much astonished at seeing at my 

 feet a most extraordinary looking animal crawling toward the surf which had 

 only just left it. I had never seen one like it under such circumstances before; 

 it therefore appeared the more remarkable. It was creeping on its eight legs, 

 which, from their soft and flexible nature, bent considerably under the weight 

 of its body, so that it was lifted by the effort of its tentaculae only a small 

 distance from the rocks. It appeared much alarmed at seeing me, and made 

 every effort to escape, while I was not much in the humor to endeavor to 

 capture so ugly a customer, whose appearance excited a feeling of disgust not 

 unmixed with fear. I, however, endeavored to prevent its escape by pressing 

 on one of its legs with my foot ; but although I made use of considerable force 

 for that purpose, its strength was so great that it several times quickly liber- 

 ated its members, in spite of all the efforts I could employ in this way on wet, 

 slippery rocks. I now laid hold of one of the tentacles with my hand and held 

 it firmly, so that the limb appeared as if it would be torn asunder by our 

 united strength. I soon gave it a powerful jerk, wishing to disengage it from 

 the rocks to which it clung so forcibly by its suckers. This it effectually 

 resisted ; but the moment after the apparently enraged animal lifted its head, 

 with its large eyes projecting from the middle of its body, and letting go its 

 hold on the rocks suddenly sprang upon my arm, which I had previously bared 

 to my shoulder for the purpose of thrusting into holes in the rocks to discover 

 shells. It clung with its suckers with great power, endeavoring to get its beak, 

 which I could now see between the roots of its arms, in a position to bite. A 

 sensation of horror pervaded my whole frame when I found this monstrous 

 animal had affixed itself so firmly to my arm. Its cold, slimy grasp was 

 extremely sickening; and I immediately called aloud to the captain, who was 

 also searching for shells at some distance, to come to my release from my dis- 

 gusting assailant. He quickly arrived, and taking me down to the boat, during 

 which time I was employed in keeping the beak away from my hand, quickly 

 released me by destroying my tormentor with the boat knife, when I disengaged 

 it by portions at a time. This animal miist have measured across its expanded 

 arms about 4 feet, while its body was not larger than a large clenched hand. 

 It was that species of sepia which is called by whalers " rock squid." 



And yet another narrative is taken from Cassell's Natural Historj^ : 



The following account of a marine diver, attacked by an octopus, exhibits the 

 behavior of these animals toward any being that intrudes upon them in 

 their native element : On 4th November, 1879, Mr. J. Smale, Government 

 diver, was at work at the bottom of the tideway of the River Moune, Mel- 

 bourne. Having placed a charge of dynamite between two large stones, he 

 came up and exploded it, and on descending again found one of the stones 



