222 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 lS74-'75, near Harbor Grace, but was destroyed 

 before its value became known, and no measurements were given. 



No. 13. — Fortune Bat 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 Rev. 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 alter it Avent 

 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 2G 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 30 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. In a letter to me, 

 dated October 27, 1875, Mr. Simms confirmed the above measurements, 

 but stated that the long 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 respectively 5, 0, 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 



