Big Game at Sea 



that the animals differ much in pugnacity. Some did 

 not resent my touching them; others merely threw a 

 tentacle in my direction, while one never touched 

 me, but directed its siphon at my hand under water 

 and sent a violent current in that direction, apparently 

 endeavoring to blow my hand away. It was fas- 

 cinating to observe the " range " this water gun had, 

 and how by seeming intuition the devil-fish could 

 direct it at my hand as I slowly moved it about while 

 attempting to attract the animal's attention in an 

 opposite direction. The assumption was almost 

 irresistible that the siphon just beneath the eye, had 

 a sense of its own, and could be directed at my hand 

 and made to follow it while the eyes of the octopus 

 were looking in another direction. But the latter 

 are elevated, and doubtless not a move of my hand 

 (a supposititious enemy) , which was passed about and 

 around it in the tank, was lost to this uncanny cha- 

 meleon of the sea. 



This devil-fish, that flushed and danced about in 

 the water, assuming strange postures now crouch- 

 ing in a corner, now poised midway was in a sense 

 indifferent to me; but with the tiger, the black and 

 white chameleon, he of the stripes, spots, and 

 blotches, the approach of my hand under water was 

 a menace, and all his movements were essentially 

 cat- or tiger-like. Perhaps you have seen a lynx, 

 wildcat, or mountain lion creeping upon its prey or 

 preparing to jump when treed. There is a concen- 



60 



