[15] CEPHALOPODS OF NORTHEASTERN COAST OF AMERICA. 225 



33 feet long. He did not measure the short arms, but estimated them 

 at 13 feet, and that they were much thicker than a man's thigh at their 

 bases. The people cut the body open and it was left on the beach. It 

 is an out-of-the-way place, arid no one knew that it was of any value. 

 Otherwise it could easily have been brought to Saint John's with only 

 the eyes destroyed and the body opened." It was subsequently carried 

 off by the tide, and no portion was secured. 



This was considerably larger than the Catalina specimen. 



The great thickness of the short arms of this specimen, and of some 

 of the others, indicates a species distinct from A. Harveyi, unless the 

 sexes of that species differ more than is usual in this respect among 

 the smaller squids. The length of the sessile arms, if correctly stated, 

 would indicate that this specimen belonged to A.irrinceps. In the 

 female Ommastrephes illccebrosus, the common northern squid, the head 

 is usually larger, the short arms are stouter, and the suckers are often 

 larger than in the male, of the same length. 



No. 17. — Trinity Bay specimen, 1877. 



Mr. Harvey also states that he had been informed by Mr. Duffet that 

 another very large 'big squid' was cast ashore in October, 1877, about 

 five miles farther up Trinity Bay than the last. It was cut up and used 

 for manure. No portions are known to have been iireserved, and no 

 measurements were given. 



No. 18.— Thimble Tickle specimen, 1878. 



The capture of this specimen has been graphically described by Mr. 

 Harvey, in a letter to the Boston Traveller of January 30, 1879: 



"On the 2d day of November last, Stephen Sherring, a fisherman 

 residing in Thimble Tickle (Notre Dame Bay), not far from the locality 

 where the other devil-fish (No. 19) was cast ashore, was out in a boat 

 with two other men; not far from the shore they observed some bulky 

 object, and, supposing it might be part of a wreck, they rowed toward 

 it, and, to their horror, found themselves close to a huge tish, having 

 large glassy eyes, which was making desperate efforts to escape, and 

 churning the water into foam by the motion of its immense arms and 

 tail. It was aground and the tide was ebbing. From the funnel at the 

 back of its head it was ejecting large volumes of water, this being its 

 method of moving backward, the force of the stream, by the reaction 

 of the surrounding medium, driving it in the required direction. At 

 times the water from the siphon was black as ink. 



"Finding the monster partially disabled, the fishermen plucked up 

 courage and ventured near enough to throw the grapnel of their boat, 

 the sharp flukes of which, having barbed points, sunk into the soft 

 body. To the grapnel they had attached a stout rope, which they had 

 carried ashore and tied to a tree, so as to prevent the fish from going 

 S. Miss. 59 15 



