Big Game at Sea 



reached the very edge of the water. Here it would 

 poise and gather itself, seemingly, like a cat for a 

 spring, drawing back with the waves, then creeping 

 on again; then like a flash of light two or three 

 tentacles would come out of the water and seize the 

 crab, and in a moment the body would follow in a 

 series of horrible convulsions, taking the octopus 

 entirely out of the water, and completely encompass- 

 ing its victim. If the crab escaped, the octopus 

 would sometimes follow it for several feet in a lum- 

 bering grotesque fashion and then return. I caught 

 many of these crab-feeding octopi by creeping upon 

 them and grasping them as they lay in wait, and some 

 of the large ones forced me to exert all my strength 

 in tearing them from their hold. To determine their 

 respective fighting qualities I caught a number and 

 confined them in a tank, then inserting my arm under 

 water I would approach them with fingers wide apart. 

 There was the greatest difference in the combative- 

 ness of individuals. Some paid no attention to my 

 advance and allowed themselves to be stroked; and 

 one large one I found as readily accepted my gentle 

 scratching between its green eyes as a dog. Others 

 again would advance to meet my hand, throw their 

 arms about it and attempt to drag it beneath the 

 rocks, while one, and the largest, invariably flung 

 itself upon my hand and endeavored to cover it with 

 the finlike membranes which connect the base of the 

 tentacles. This is always the method of attack in 



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