82 GIGANTIC CEPHALOPODS. 



A letter IVuiii ii " very Sober person in Pnblin " mentions that 

 u The head was not soc bigg MS my list, the inoutli and two hard 

 shells upon it very black and shap'd like to an Katie's Hill, lint 

 broader; in the month there was two tongues, and (as the .Man 

 declared that tooke this monster) the Beast had naturall power 

 to draw this head in or putt it out oi' the Body us necessity 

 required;" 



Such are the essential portions ol' a communication made by 

 Mr. A. (J. More, F. L. S., to Tin: Zoohxjixt (page 4f>L><;, 1ST.")). 

 Whether the" Monster" shall bo classified on the faith of Mr. 

 More, as a new cephalopod. or whether it would be better 

 arranged among the Irish .Bulls as a marine form thereof, I leave' 

 to the discrimination of my readers. Mr. Verrill, who is good 

 authority, thinks it is Architeuthis nnnnu:lmx Steenstrup. 



The Ann'rirti.n tf/H)r/#nw.n for Dec. Utli, 1 STo, contains a well- 

 authenticated account of a huge cephalopod lately encountered 

 in Conception Bay, Newfoundland, OBe of the longer arms of the 

 same liavini;- been secui'ed and deposited in the St. John's 

 Museum. The lull description of the monster as contributed by 

 the Bev. M. Harvey, of St. John's, may be thus condensed: 



Two fishermen \vhileplyiiii>- their vocation oil' (J iv:it Belle Island, 

 Conception Bay. Oct. 20th, 187o. suddenly diseovered. at a short 

 distance from them, a dark shapeless mass floating on the sur- 

 face of the water. Concluding that it was probably pnrt of tin- 

 cargo of some wrecked vessel, they approached, anticipating a 

 valuable pri/e, and one of them struck the object with his boat- 

 hook. rpon receiving the shock the dark luap became suddenly 

 animated, and showed an intelligent face, with a pair of lar^e 

 prominent ghastly eyes, which seemed to gh\-up. with intense 

 ferocity, the creature at the same time exposing to view, and 

 opening, its parrot-like beak with an apparently hostile and 

 malignant purpose. The men were petrified with terror, and for 

 a moment so fascinated by the horrible sight as to be powerless 

 to stir. lie fore they had time to recover their presence of mind. 

 the monster, now but a few feet from the boat , suddenly shot out 

 from around its head several long arms of corpse-like llcshiness, 

 grappling with them for the boat and seeking to envelop it in 

 their folds. Only two of these reached I he c.rafl, and, owin. 



