[57] CEPHALOPODS OF NORTHEASTERN COAST OF AMERICA. 267 



the creature swimming just beneath the surface of the sea. This is 

 unlike either of the other two illustrations that I have seen, but the 

 origin of this figure is not given. In the popular work " The Ocean 

 World,'' by Louis Figuier (London edition, 1869, p. 462), there is also an 

 account of this encounter, which is for the most part a translation 

 from the original accounts given above, accompanied by a figure which, 

 as the author states, " is copied from M. Berthelot's colored representa- 

 tion of this scene." This is a very fair representation of a genuine Archi- 

 teuthis, and is of especial interest, if we recollect that when this figure 

 was made there was no figure extant, nor any authentic description of 

 the form and structure of Architeuthis. The head is undoubtedly rep- 

 resented too large, but the form and proportion of the, body caudal fin, 

 arms, and tentacles are very much like those of the Newfoundland ex- 

 amples. 



Popular accounts of this, as well as of other large Cephalopods of ear- 

 lier occurrence, are contained in many other general works besides those 

 referred to above. * 



In "Les Monstres Marins" (p. 44), referred to above, there is the 

 following account, inclosed in quotation marks, but without any state- 

 ment of the source from which it was taken : 



"An American captain, whom I knew very well, in New York," says 

 B. H. K6voil, " told me that in 1836, when he was in the neighborhood 

 of Lucayes Islands, his ship had been attacked by a cuttle-fish, which, 

 stretching out its gigantic arms, had reached and dragged into the sea 

 two men of his crew. With a blow of his hatchet, the chief steersman 

 cut off one of its arms. This monstrous appendage measured 3£ meters 

 (11£ feet) in length, and its thickness was that of a man. I have seen 

 this curious specimen of natural history in the museum of Mr. Barnum, 

 in New York, where it is preserved, shriveled and folded on itself, in an 

 enormous jar full of alcohol." 



Some of our older readers may, perhaps, have seen such a specimen in 

 Barnum's Museum, which, however, has not been regarded in this coun- 

 try as a very reliable source of scientific information on such subjects. 

 Possibly this specimen, as well as the story, may have been an ingenious 

 invention. 



According to Jeffreys (British Conchology, vol. v, p. 124), a huge 

 Cephalopod was stranded in 1860 or 1861, between Hillswick and Scal- 

 loway, on the west of Shetland. "From a communication received by 

 Professor Allman it appears that the tentacles were 16 feet long, the 

 pedal arms about half that length, and the mantle-sac 7 feet ; the man- 

 tle was terminated by fins ; one of the suckers examined by Professor 

 Allman was § inch in diameter." 



Mr. Kent, in the articles t already referred to, mentions a sessile arm 



* Among these popular works, of permanent value, containing such accounts should 

 be cited "The World of the Sea," translated and edited by the Rev. H. Martyn Hart, 

 London, Cassell, Petter & Galpin, from "Le Monde de la Mer," by M. Moquin Tandon. 



t Proceedings Zoological Society of London for 1874, pp. 178 and 493. 



