368 



ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1916. 



In the year 1680 a krake (pei'haps a young and careless one) came into the 

 water that runs between the rocks and cliffs in the parish of Alstahoug, 

 though the general custom of that creature is to keep always several leagues 

 from land, and therefore of course they must die there. It happened that 

 its extended long arms, or antennae, which this creature seems to use like 

 the snail — in turning about — caught hold of some trees standing near the 

 water, which miglit easily have been torn up by the roots ; but besides this, 

 as it was found afterwards, he entangled himself in some openings or clefts 

 in the rock, and therein stuck so fast, and hung so unfortunately, that he 

 could not work himself out, but perished and putrified on the spot. The 

 carcass, which was a long while decaying and filled a great part of that 

 narrow channel, made it almost impassable by its intolerable stench. 



Let us now turn from these distorted and fanciful images to the 

 animals that are responsible for them. Prof. A. E. Verrill, in his 



Fig. 8. — Jaws of the giant squid. Half natural size. 



report on the cephalopods of the northeastern coast of America, 

 published in the annual report of the Commissioner of Fish and 

 Fisheries for 1879, tells us many interesting things about the Ameri- 

 can members of the group. Among other things he presents a table 

 on page 22 which gives measurements of the various giant squids 

 that he had examined to date. The largest of these had a total 

 length of 55 feet. The length of the tentacular arms of this speci- 

 men are cited as 35 feet, while the length of the body from tip of 

 tail to the base of the arms is given as 20 feet. The greatest length 

 of tentacular arms mentioned in the table is 37 and the greatest 

 circumference of the body as 12 feet. The diameter of the largest 

 sucker is given as about 2.25 inches, and the breadth of the eye 

 opening is 7 by 9 inches. 



