GARDENS OF THE SEA 



195 



ceiling," its " sunless crypt," and its " shining 

 archway." 



In the same family with this romantic beauty 

 of the sea is another cephalopod, a species with- 

 out a shell belonging to the Dibranchiates, 

 which interests not for his beauty like the nau- 

 tilus, but for his repellent look. This is the 

 great polyp, the octopus. He is a monster of 

 the deep and in body is known to be nine or ten 

 feet in length by six feet in breadth, with ten- 

 tacles thirty or forty feet in reach. He feeds 

 upon anything living and in turn is fed upon 

 by the sperm whale. It is, indeed, from the 

 stomach of whales that evidence as to his size 

 has been obtained. It is claimed by several 

 writers that they have seen him in the life, but 

 certainly the sight is a very rare one. All of 

 the tribe have ink bags, which they discharge 

 to cloud the water when attacked; and all are 

 formidable antagonists fighting with both tooth 

 and tentacle. In spite of a repellent look, 

 which they must possess judging from the 

 smaller specimens in the aquariums, they are 

 beautifully patterned with the most delicately 

 blended rods, browns, violets, and pinks; and 

 some of them have gold-rimmed telescopic eyes 

 as soft and pretty as those of a gazelle. 



The Crustacea represent one of the higher 



The 

 octopus. 



Size and 

 equipment 

 of the 

 octopus. 



