178 MR. W. S. KENT ON A GIGANTIC CEPHALOPOD. [Mar. 3, 



2. Crocodilus madagascariensis, Gray, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 145, 

 pi. xxiii. 



Madagascar. B.M. 



2. Philas. 



Head elongate, slender, conical. Forehead flat before and between 

 the eyes, with a slight convex narrow ridge in front to the middle of 

 the beak ; face rounded on the sides from the central line ; nose 

 subcylindrical. 



Philas johnstoni. (Plate XXVII.) 



Crocodilus johnstoni, Krefft, MS. 

 Crocodilus johnsoni, Krefft, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 334. 

 Tomistoma krefftii, Gray, MS., fide Krefft. 

 Australia, Queensland, Cardwell {Johnston, Bloxland, Krefft). 

 The head nearly twice and a half as long as broad; specimen 

 7 feet long. 



5. Note on a Gigantic Cephalopod from Conception Bay, 

 Newfoundland. By W. Saville Kent, F.L.S., F.Z.S., 

 some time Assistant in the Natural- History Depart- 

 ment of the British Museum, and late Curator of the 

 Brighton Aquarium. 



[Eeceived February 17, 1874.] 



The 'American Sportsman' for December 6, 1873, for which 

 I am indebted to the Editor for a separate copy sent me, contains a 

 well authenticated account of a huge Cephalopod lately encountered 

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

 same having been secured and deposited in the St. John's Museum. 



The full description of the monster as contributed by the Rev. M. 

 Harvey of St. John's, may be thus condensed* : — 



Two fishermen, while plying their vocation off Great Belle Island, 

 Conception Bay, October 26, 1873, suddenly discovered, at a short 

 distance from them, a dark shapeless mass floating on the surface of 

 the water. Concluding that it was probably part of the cargo of 

 some wrecked vessel, they approached, anticipating a valuable prize, 

 and one of them struck the object with his boat-hook. Upon re- 

 ceiving the shock the dark heap became suddenly animated, and 

 spreading out discovered an intelligent face, with a pair of large 

 prominent ghastly eyes, which seemed to gleam 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. Before they had 

 time to recover their presence of mind, the monster, now but a few 



* See also Mr. Harvey's letter to Principal Dawson, reprinted in the ' Annals 

 & Magazine of Natural History' for January 1874. 



