s l <;K;.\NTI< CHIMI \I,OIMM>S. 



measured one 110 loot. He tells me. moreover, that the monsters 

 :ire edible.* 



Quite a literature has been accumulated wilhin Ihc pMst few 

 years upon the gigantic cephalopods ol' Newfoundland, the 

 occurrence of which h:is become rather frequent. The above 

 extracts will en;il)le our renders t.o form some idea of the size and 

 appearance o(' these monsters. Further particula rs may be ob- 

 tained l>y those, interested. IVom the papers ol' Messrs. Ily:it1 and 

 \'errill,- in the Aim-rim ti Xaftirrilin/ :uid Aim'rimii .Inn run I <>l 



Science. 



The (Irani Cephalopoda of flic Pririjic. Dom IVrnetly 

 ("Voyage :uix lies M:douines, ii. 7G) thus expresses liiinsell' on 

 the subject of a eeplmlopod : 



" In the opinion of the sailors of the South Sens, the Cornet is 

 the largest (ish of the ocean. The seninen sny nlso 1h:tt they 

 attach themselves ;ind grapple -with vessels. Our captain and 

 his brother, who have made several voyages on the 4 southern 

 have also assured me of this fact, but they added that they had 

 not seen them of this size, but had eaten of some of lf>0 weight 

 or thereabouts." 



Molinaf echoes Pernctty when, apropos to his ,sV/m/ hniimfti. 

 he says : The sailors exaggerate the size and strenirth of this 

 animal: but it is sure that those taken in the seas of Chili do 

 not, weigh less than lf)() pounds. To exhaust our incomplete in- 

 formation concerning these animals, it is mentioned in the Jnur. 

 (/c /YJ//X., ii, 17s4, that a South Sea whaler in 1 TS:J eaj)turel a 

 Uahena. in the month of which was found the arm of a INmlpe 

 '21 feet .lung, and thick as a ship's mast. The IJahena is known 

 1o live almost entirely, however, on very small pleropods: it is the 

 dolphin and the cachalot which feed on cephalopods." 



In the second voyage of ('apt. Cook/; ii is related that after 

 having doubled Cape Horn, ''Mr Hanks found a great Sepia 

 which appeared to be -lain by the birds; ils mutilated body 

 floated on the wafer : it was very different from the cuttle-fish 



* Am.. X'tt., viii, PJ<), U 



| Hisl. Nal. Chili," 173, 1789. 



i ii, :H)1. 



