34 HOMES UNDER THE SEA. 



has been seen alive and attacked was encountered off the 

 coast of Teneriffe. In the winter of 1861 a French 

 steamer, the Alecton, fell in with a great Cuttle disporting 

 itself on the surface of the sea. The men tried to harpoon 

 it, but without success, the harpoon merely slipping 

 through the soft tissues of the body without taking hold. 

 Bullets produced scarcely any more effect, going through 

 the body without seeming to do much injury. One 

 bullet, however, inflicted a wound from which issued a 

 mass of blood and foam, accompanied by a strong musky 

 odour. 



Then a rope with a slip-knot was passed over its body, 

 and the men tried to haul it out of the water. The 

 creature, however, tore itself away, leaving a fragment of 

 the end of the body in the noose. The men wanted to 

 lower a boat and chase it, but the captain feared lest 

 they might come to harm against so novel an opponent, 

 and would not give his permission. 



The piece that came on board weighed about forty -six 

 pounds, and the officers calculated that the weight of the 

 entire animal, which was about sixteen feet, exceeded 

 four thousand pounds ! It was one of the short-armed 

 species, the length of the arms being only five or six feet. 



There are some species which have one pair of arms 

 enormously elongated, specimens having been found in 

 which the arms were thirty feet in length, and as thick 

 as a man's wrist. In these animals, the extremity of the 

 arms is flattened like the blade of a paddle, and furnished 

 with suckers of enormous power. Moreover, when the 



