THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



old-fashioned naturalists believed, to induce us to 

 give them a wide berth. It would not be pleasant 

 to be entwined in the embrace of those arms ; and 

 we can sympathise with Mr. Beale, who has de- 

 scribed his feelings during an encounter which he 

 had with a beastie of this sort, while engaged in 

 searching for shells among the rocks of the Bonin 

 Islands. He was much astonished at seeing at 

 his feet a most extraordinary-looking animal, 

 crawling towards the surf, which it had only just 

 left. It was creeping on its eight legs, which, 

 from their soft and flexible nature, bent consider- 

 ably under the weight of its body, so that it was 

 lifted by the efforts of its tentacula only a small 

 distance from the rocks. It appeared much 

 alarmed at seeing him, and made every effort to 

 escape. Mr. Beale endeavoured to stop it by 

 pressing on one of its legs with his foot; but, 

 although he used considerable force for that pur- 

 pose, its strength was so great that it several 

 times liberated its member, in spite of all the 

 efforts he could employ on the wet and slippery 

 rocks. He then laid hold of one of the tentacles 

 with his hand, and held it firmly, so that it ap- 

 peared as if the limb would be torn asunder by 

 the united efforts of himself and the creature. He 

 then gave it a powerful jerk, wishing to disen- 

 tangle it from the rocks to which it clung so for- 

 cibly by its suckers. This effort it effectually re- 

 sisted; but, the moment after, the apparently 

 enraged animal lifted its head, with its large 

 projecting eyes, and, loosing its hold of the rocks, 

 suddenly sprang upon Mr. Beale" s arm, (which he 

 had previously bared to the shoulder for the pur- 

 pose of thrusting it into holes in the rocks after 

 shells,) and clung to it by means of its suckers 

 with great power, endeavouring to get its beak, 

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