GIGANTIC CEPHALOPODS. 7T 



base is eleven inches ; and thence it gradually tapers off, termi- 

 nating in a fine point. The suckers, which cover the whole of the 

 under surface of this arm, are distributed in two alternating rows, 

 numbering from 145 to 150 suckers to each row : those at the 

 base having a diameter of half an inch, and gradually decreasing 

 in size as they approach the attenuate extremity. No authen- 

 ticated record of the circumstances attending the capture of this 

 remarkable specimen, or of the locality whence obtained, appears 

 to have been preserved ; but it is believed to have come from the 

 South American coast.* "It may be an arm of A. princeps or 

 of Loligo Hartingii, or it may appertain to the Loligo Bouyeri 

 of Crosse and Fischer." VERRILL, Am. Naturalist, ix, 86. 



Harting has described portions of two enormous cephalopods 

 in the University Museum of Utrecht. Their habitat and circum- 

 stances of their capture are unknown. The first and largest M. 

 Harting identifies with Archileuthis dux Steenst. The buccal 

 parts, some cups and the dentition are preserved. f 

 The following is from The Zooloyixt, June, 18*75 : 

 CAPTURE OF AN KNORMOUS CUTTLK-FISII OFF BOFFIN ISLAND, ON 

 THE COAST OF CoNNEMARA (IRELAND) On Monday last, the crew 

 of a cnrragh,! consisting of three men, met with a strange ad- 

 venture northwest of Boffin Island. Having shot their spillets 

 (or long lines) in the morning, they observed to seaward a great 

 floating mass, surrounded by gulls ; they pulled out, believing it to 

 be a wreck, but, to their great astonishment, found it to be a 

 cuttle-fish of enormous proportions, and tying perfectly still, as 

 if basking on the surface of the water. A knife was the only 

 weapon on board. The cuttle is much prized as a bait for coarse 

 fish, and the crew resolved to secure at least a portion of it. 

 Considering the great size of the monster, and knowing the 

 crushing and holding powers of the arms, open hostilitjr could 

 not be resorted to, and the fishermen shaped their tactics differ- 

 ently. Paddling up with caution, a single arm was suddenly 



* This arm is more carefully described in "Zool. Proc.," 493, 1874, and 

 identified with Ommastrephes lodarus, supposed to be the same as Archi- 

 teuthis dux of Steenstrnp. 



f P. Harting, "Verb. Akad. Weten.," Amsterdam, ix, t. 1, 2, 1861. 



\ A large kind of coracle made with wooden ribs, and covered with 

 tarred canvas. 



