348 SEA MONSTERS UNMASKED. 



length may be considered a rather large specimen ; and 

 Dr. J. E. Gray, who was always most kindly ready to place 

 at the disposal of any sincere inquirer the vast store of 

 knowledge laid up in his wonderful memory, told me that 

 " there is not one in the British Museum which exceeds 

 this size, or which would not go into a quart pot body, 

 arms and all." The largest British specimen I have hitherto 

 seen had arms 2 ft. 6 in. long. We have sufficient evidence, 

 however, that it exceeds this in the South of France, and 

 along the Spanish and Italian coasts of the Mediterranean ; 

 and my deceased friend John Keast Lord tells us in his 

 book, ' The Naturalist in British Columbia/ that he saw 

 and measured, in Vancouver's Island, an octopus which 

 had arms five feet long. 



I have often been asked whether an octopus of 

 the ordinary size can really be dangerous to bathers. 

 Decidedly, "Yes," in certain situations. The holding 

 power of its numerous suckers is enormous. It is 

 almost impossible forcibly to detach it from its adhesion 

 to a rock or the flat bottom of a tank ; and if a large one 

 happened to fix one or more of its strong, tough arms on 

 the leg of a swimmer whilst the others held firmly to a rock, 

 I doubt if the man could disengage himself under water 

 by mere strength, before being exhausted. Fortunately 

 the octopus can be made to relax its hold by grasping it 

 tightly round the " throat," (if I may so call it), and it may 

 be well that this should be known. 



That men are occasionally drowned by these creatures 

 is, unhappily, a fact too well attested. I have else- 

 where * related several instances of this having occurred. 

 Omitting those, I will give two or three others which have 



* See ' The Octopus ; or, the Devil-fish of Fiction and of Fact.' 

 1873. Chapman and Hall. 



