ii8 THE OCEAN 



dition at sea, and within a few years several 

 species of these hitherto unknown monsters 

 were described. Although in form and ap- 

 pearance much like the common little squid 

 of our sea coasts, these huge fellows were 

 equipped with arms and tentacles thirty feet 

 or more in length and had great bodies nine 

 or ten feet long and seven to ten feet in cir- 

 cumference. 



Once known to science the giant squids were 

 studied and to-day we know that they inhabit 

 portions of the deep sea and seldom come to 

 the surface save by accident, and, moreover, 

 we have discovered that these remarkable 

 creatures, which for many centuries were con- 

 sidered as fabulous, form the great bulk of the 

 food of sperm whales. If such enormous an- 

 imals could exist unknown for many years and 

 if species so closely related to the little puny 

 squids of our coasts could so greatly exceed 

 them in size, there is no valid reason for not 

 believing that almost any other form of ma- 

 rine life may have unknown relatives of gi- 

 gantic size. 



Only a few years ago a strange object was 



