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



thidae, which, when living, must have possessed two additional ten- 

 tacula, in all probability at least twice the length of the preserved 

 member. That this last-named specimen again is only one of the 

 shorter arms, is made evident by the disposition of the suckers in 

 two rows throughout its length ; and the information now supplied 

 by Mr. Harvey establishes, in a most gratifying manner, the correct- 

 ness of the conclusions already drawn concerning it. Both these 

 arms, indeed, now under discussion must have appertained to a body 

 of the most closely ajmroximating proportions, and belong probably 

 to one and the same species. The shorter member in the British 

 Museum has evidently been detached close to its base ; but at the 

 same time it is reasonable to infer that prior to its exposure to the 

 contracting influences of the spirit, wherein it is now immersed, it 

 measured some two or three additional feet ; these added, give a 

 length of precisely half the longer tentacle in the St. John's Museum 

 when perfect, which proportionate dimensions were estimated, while 

 yet unproved, in the reference already given. 



Although it does not appear that the body of any Cephalopod 

 possessing arms and tentacles of such huge dimensions as the fore- 

 going has up to the present time been secured for scientific examina- 

 tion and identification, there is yet abundant evidence that such 

 exist. Several well authenticated accounts of these are contained in 

 Gwyn Jeffreys's ' British Conchology,' article Cephalopoda, vol. v. 

 p. 124. One example, stranded on the west coast of Shetland, is re- 

 ported to have had tentacles measuring 16 feet long, arms of half 

 that length, and a mantle-sac 7 feet long terminated with fins. A. 

 sucker of this specimen, the only part preserved, examined by Prof. 

 Allman, was f of an iuch in diameter. Among several monsters cast 

 up on the Danish coast, chronicled by Prof. Steenstrup, one is said 

 to have possessed a body measuring 21 feet, and tentacles 18, or a 

 total length of 39 feet. This specimen is referred by its chronicler 

 to a species of Architeuthis, his A. dux, two allied forms re- 

 ceiving from the same authority the provisional title of Architeuthis 

 monachus. Unfortunately, however, no portions of these animals, 

 sufficient for establishing a scientific diagnosis, or for the purposes 

 of positive reidentification, appear to have been preserved. The 

 following reliable account, which has already appeared in many 

 recent natural-history treatises, may be accepted as additional testi- 

 mony in proof of the existence of true ocean monsters : — On the 

 30th of November, 1861, about 20 miles to the north-east of Tene- 

 riffe, the French dispatch-boat 'Alecton,' Captain Bouyer, en- 

 countered a huge Cephalopod floating, apparently exhausted, on the 

 surface of the water. The endeavour was immediately made to effect 

 its capture, shots being fired at and harpoons plunged into it without 

 any result, the latter being unable to take any hold in its soft yielding 

 flesh. In the end a running noose was successfully cast over the 

 creature's tail ; but on endeavouring to haul it on board, the rope 

 cut through the animal's body, completely severing the tail-piece, 

 which was drawn on deck, the remaining portion at the same time 

 slowly sinking away from view in the depths of the ocean. This 



