STRANGE SEA CREATURES. 309 



tion. Some specimens of cuttle-fish which have been 

 captured wholly, or in part, indicate that this creature some- 

 times attains such dimensions that but little magnifying 

 would be needed to suggest even the tremendous propor- 

 tions of the fabulous kraken. In 1861, the French war- 

 steamer Alecton encountered a monstrous cuttle, on the 

 surface of the sea, about 120 miles north-east of TeneriflFe. 

 The crew succeeded in slipping a noose round the body, but 

 unfortunately the rope slipped, and, being arrested by the 

 tail fin, pulled off the tail. This was hauled on board, and 

 found to weigh over 40 Ibs. From a drawing of the animal, 

 the total length without the arms was estimated at 50 feet, 

 and the weight at 4000 Ibs., nearly twice the weight of 

 Pliny's monstrous cuttle-fish, long regarded as fabulous. In 

 one respect this creature seems to have been imperfect, the 

 two long arms usually possessed by cuttle-fish of the kind 

 being wanting. Probably it had lost these long tentacles in 

 a recent encounter with some sea enemy, perhaps one of its 

 own species. Quite possibly it may have been such re- 

 cent mutilation which exposed this cuttle-fish to successful 

 attack by the crew of the Alecton. 



A cuttle-fish of about the same dimensions was en- 

 countered by two fishermen in 1873, in Conception Bay, 

 Newfoundland. When they attacked it, the creature threw 

 its long arms across the boat, but the fishermen with an axe 

 cut off these tentacles, on which the cephalopod withdrew in 

 some haste. One of the arms was preserved, after it had 

 lost about 6 feet of its length. Even thus reduced it 

 measured 19 feet ; and as the fishermen estimate that the arm 

 was struck off about 10 feet from the body, it follows that the 

 entire length of the limb must have been about 35 feet. 

 They estimated the body at 60 feet in length and 5 feet in 

 diameter a monstrous creature ! It was fortunate for these 

 fishermen that they had an axe handy for its obtrusive ten- 

 tacles, as with so great a mass and the great propulsive 

 power possessed by all cephalopods, it might readily have 

 upset their small boat Once in the water, they would have 



