648 ZOOLOGICAL 
parent males is still living 
and has reached a larger 
size than any sea horse 
ever kept in the Aquarium, 
being six and a half inches 
in length. 
Our observations appear 
to indicate that the female 
sea horse arrives at matur- 
ity in less than one year, 
and dies after the first 
spawning. 
The latter point is of 
course not yet demonstrat- 
ed, but a hundred more 
small sea horses procured 
during the past summer, 
have grown rapidly and 
will afford ample material 
for further observations as 
to breeding habits next 
month. 
THE OCTOPUS. 
UR efforts to acclim- 
atize the octopus in 
the Aquarium have 
not been crowned with suc- 
cess. Specimens have been brought from Ber- 
muda each summer, only to be lost within a few 
days. It was believed that the new system of 
pure sea water would make the conditions of 
captivity for the octopus, such, that our trouble 
would come to an end, but the experiences of the 
past summer showed that the hope was in vain. 
In the tanks of the Bermuda Aquarium, the oc- 
topus lives and thrives as well as it appears to do 
at Naples, and our specimens have been derived 
from stock inured to captivity in Bermuda. Our 
stored sea water is pure and is kept at the proper 
temperature, while our specimens have been sup- 
plied with live crabs, just the kind of food they 
like. They have been carried in large trans- 
portation tanks on the steamer, supplied with 
flowing sea water during the voyage and have 
been under the care of Mr. Mowbray who has 
had abundant success in keeping them in cap- 
tivity in Bermuda. 
As most of the animals of each shipment died 
during the voyage, and the survivors arrived in 
New York too weak to feed, it is now apparent 
that the cause of the trouble lies in the system 
of transportation. 
Fishes brought to New York from Bermuda 
usually arrive in good condition, and losses on 
board the steamer are trifling. The difficulty 
SOCIETY 
BULLETIN. 
OCTOPUS IN THE NEW YORK AQUARIUM. 
The picture shows a weakened specimen. 
Photo by L. B. Spencer. 
may rest with the galvanized iron shipping 
tanks, which while satisfactory for fishes, may 
be all wrong for the octopus. The fish remains 
suspended in its natural element in the tank, but 
the octopus clings with all its suckers to the 
sides. It is possible that it thus absorbs some- 
thing injurious from the metal walls of the tank, 
and in view of this possible source of injury, 
the next season’s shipments will be made in 
wooden tanks painted with asphaltum, which has 
been found a safe coating for wooden troughs 
used in the hatching of fish eggs. 
The octopus is a prize exhibit in any aquarium 
where it is kept, and should be represented in 
our collections—especially as there is no serious 
difficulty about the capture and feeding of speci- 
With live spiny-lobsters, crabs or mus- 
sels as bait, it is often taken in the large wicker 
fish traps used everywhere in the West Indies, 
but in Bermuda it is usually captured by divers, 
who seize it with their hands. The use of the 
fish-trap requires time, and the octopus may be 
killed by morays or rock fishes entering the trap. 
It would not venture into a trap already con- 
taining any large fish. 
It is frequently caught with hook and line, 
but when hauled up clings so tightly with its 
mens. 
