GIANT CALAMARY. 



173 



UPPER (A) AMD LOWER (fi) JAW OR MANDIBLE OF 



ARCHITEUTHIS MONACHUS. (Steenstrup.) 

 (Reduced to one-taird nat. size.) 



a suspicion that this was actually the same individual that attacked the boat. But if not, it was 



probably one of the same species, and of about the same size." 



A paii- of jaws and t\vo suckers were sent to the Smithsonian Institute by Rev. A. Munn. 



They were taken from a Cuttle cast ashore at Bonavista Bay. He states that it measured 



thirty-two feet in length and six feet in circumference. Professor Yerrill thinks this is probably 



the entire length, including more or less of the arms. 



The jaw is large and broad, but thinner than that 



found by Captain Campbell, and without the deep 



notch and angular lobe seen in that specimen. It 



probably belongs to the Arckiteutlds dux of Steenstrup. 

 On January 31, 1874, the Rev. M. Harvey de- 



scribed parts of a giant Calamary, taken near St. 



John's, Newfoundland, of which the subjoined is a 



note : " A few days ago three of our fishermen 



residing in Logie Bay, three miles from St. John's, 



were overhauling a herring-net, when they found entangled in its folds a huge Calamary. With 



great difficulty they succeeded in despatching it and bringing it on. shore., being compelled to cut 



off its head before they could drag it into their boat. Having purchased it of the fishermen, I 



have carefully examined and measured it, and have had the head and surrounding arms photo- 



graphed, as well as the body, both being at present 

 preserved in brine. The body is eight feet in 

 length and five in circumference. The arms, ten 

 in number, radiate from the top of the head. The 

 mouth of the creature consists of a strong horny 

 beak, exactly like that of a parrot in shape, and 

 about the size of a man's fist. The eyes are placed 

 on each side of the head from which the arms 

 extend, and are large, dark, and prominent, the 

 membranous sockets being four inches and a half 

 in diameter. The two longest arms measure each 

 twenty -four feet in length, are only three inches iu 



A, MARGINAL RING OF SUCKER FROM ONE OF THE SESSILE circumference, and are very tough and strong, and 



TACULAR ARMS OF SAME (nat. size) ; c, LARGER SUCKER the largest being one inch and a quarter in diameter, 

 FROM TENTACLE OF SAME (nat. she). the 8ma u e st not larger than a split pea. There are 



about eighty suckers on each arm, which tapers to a 



pretty fine point. Each of the eight short arms is six feet in length, and at the point of junction with 

 the head is nine inches in circumference. They taper to a point, and on the under side are entirely 

 covered with a double row of powerful suckers one inch and a quarter in diameter, each having a sharp 

 denticulated edge and a membrane in the centre, which the creature can retract at pleasure, and thus 

 create a vacuum. Each of these short arms has nearly one hundred suckers, and the moment one of 

 them touches its prey it feels the contact, and draws back the membranous piston ; a vacuum is created, 

 and the edges of the disc are pressed against the surface of the victim, with a force equal to the weight 

 of the atmosphere added to the weight of water which is above it. The more the victim writhes it 

 comes in contact with more and more discs in succession, each of which adheres ; and other arms soon 

 encircle it, and bring it within reach of the powerful beak. No fate could be more horrible than to 

 be entwined in the embrace of those eight clammy, corpse-like arms, and to feel their folds creeping and 

 gliding around you, and the eight hundred discs, with their cold adhesive touch, glueing themselves to 

 you with a grasp which nothing could relax, and feeling like so many mouths devouring you at the 

 same time. Slowly the horrible arms, supple as leather, strong as steel, and cold as death, draw their 

 prey under the horrible beak, and press it against the glutinous mass which forms the body. The 

 cold, slimy grasp paralyses the victim with terror, and the powerful mandibles rend and devour. 



" No Cuttle of such dimensions as the one I am describing has ever before been captured. If its 



