196 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
above the dam become more and more scarce, until dually tlie stock la 
reduced lo a minimum." 
Tt if out of this minimum supply, if at all, that the fish referred to by 
Hr. Klippart have been taken during all months of the year. 
“The result of dams diminishing the number of purely fresh water fish 
has not received the same attention in this country that it has abroad; 
but it is a well established principle, from centuries of lnqniry in Ger¬ 
many and elsewhere, tbal a very extensive migration takes place among 
the purely fresh water fish." 
When hereafter any informant of Mr. Klippart. asserts that fiBli cbnteB 
arc useless, let him reply In the following Blrong but appropriate quota¬ 
tion:— 
“The assertion that chutes upon any plan are worthleBB, is founded 
Upon the grossest ignorance of the history of fish culture and fish pro¬ 
tection. There are localities in which, for focal cjinses, fishways have 
not proved as efficient us had been anticipated; but for one instance of 
this kind there is no difficulty in showing a hundred that answer every 
purpose. 1 * 
My answers, therefore, categorically, to Mr. KITppart arc:— 
First—Our inland fishes are migratory, and clinics are necessary for 
their passage. 
Second—They are not taken in our water daring every month of the 
year as a body, but only those few who remain because of some unex¬ 
plained cause are ever then captured. 
Third—That while it is true of fishes, and of everything else, that 
more can be bought from the world at large than can be reared at home, 
yet that furnishes no reason for destroying the few we have. 
Tjiomas A. Losan, 
President of the Ohio State Asso. for the Protection of Game and Fish. 
§iztcrg. 
I'lMs Department Is under the charge of a competent Naturalist, 
indorsed by the Smithsonian Institution, and will henceforth be tnade a 
special feature of this paper. Alt communications, notes, queries, re¬ 
marks, and seasonal observations will receive careful attention .] 
THE GREAT OCTOPUS. 
suckers, can be clasped around any object, and are 
worked by the creature as dexterously us a cat uses her 
paws, To be enfolded in the whole ten arms, covered as 
they are with perhaps 1,200 suckers which sink into the 
flesh of a victim and seem to drink the blood, while the 
beak of the ferocious creature rends and destroys its prey, 
would be a truly awful fate. 
The division decapoda of the cephalopodous (head'foot¬ 
ed) mollusca embraces the cuttle fish, Sepiaike, and the 
calamaries or squids, Teuthidm. The latter are distin¬ 
guished from the ordinary cuttle fisli by the possession of 
larger fins and a greater length of body, so that they are 
belter fitted for an oceanic existence. Another point of 
difference is, that instead of the cuttle-hone, the calamar¬ 
ies possess a horny, transparent “pen,” or gladius, which, 
in combination with the ink-bag of this group, lias gained 
for them the popular appellation of the pen-and-ink fish. 
It is carious to find that, during the Roman period, the 
Mediterranean was generally assigned as the habitat of 
certain gigantic ceplialopods, regarding which many fables 
were related by ancient writers, all of which, we know 
now, must have bad some solid foundation of facts The 
most striking narrative is from the pen of Pliny, who re¬ 
lates that one of these creatures was destroyed on the 
coast of Spain, whose head was the size of a cask, one of 
the arms measuring thirty feet. It is remarkable that two 
of the arms are described by Pliny as having been of much 
greater length than the others, recent discoveries having 
confirmed tills observation of the old naturalists. Prom 
the termination of the Roman period till the commence¬ 
ment of the seventeenth century, no appearance of these 
oceanic monsters is on record; but after the latter date ac- 
In our isane of Jan. 15th, 1874, will bo found a very Interesting arti¬ 
cle by Rev. M. Harvey, of St. Johns, N. F., describing Cepbalopods, 
with an accompanying engraving from a photograph of one of these 
creatures taken on tile Newfoundland coast at that time. The article 
and photograph were then regarded with so much interest by scientific 
men that Ihe first was reproduced in Europe from electrotypes furnish 
ed by the proprietors of this paper upon application. It was the first, pho¬ 
tograph evertaken of an octopus. Wc have therefore thought it won Id be 
gratifying to those of our readera who did not then see the picture of 
this hideous creature to examine it now, and accordingly print, it a sec¬ 
ond time, in connection with the article which follows, and which has 
never been printed before. It adda information to that given in the ar¬ 
ticle of January, 1S74.— Ed. 
Sx. Johns, Newfoundland, April, 1876. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
“A very great interest was awakened among naturalists 
on both sides the Atlantic by the discovery which I was 
fortunate enough to make in 1873 of the ouly perfect spec¬ 
imen of these colossal cephalopoda. The effect of that dis¬ 
covery has been to remove all doubt as to the existence of 
cuttle fish of very large dimensions, and to furnish data 
for a scientific investigation of the structure of a species 
of fishes, the very existence of which was doubted or 
denied by the most eminent naturalists. No fact in nature 
can be unimportant or fruitless, and the discovery of these 
cepbalopods, as we shull see presently, has already, to some 
scientific minds, suggested important possibilities in the 
Study of marine zoology. 
Curiously enough it would seem that the seas around 
Newfoundland are the favorite Tesort of these marine mon¬ 
sters, us scarcely a year elapses of late without bringing 
news of some specimens having cither been seen or qast 
ashore. We may hope, therefore, that as the importance 
of preserving such specimens as may turn up becomes 
more generally known among the inhabitants of New¬ 
foundland, numerous representatives of the different gen¬ 
era and species will, in the course of time, be obtained, 
and a thorough knowledge gained of these remarkable 
creatures. The latest arrival of one of the long-armed 
tribe took place in December, 1874, at Grand Bank, out the 
shores of Fortune Bay, Here a splendid specimen was 
flung ashore, unmutilated and fresh, but unhappily before 
any one who knew its value arrived at the spot,, it was cut 
up aud partly destroyed by the fishermen, Little did these 
honest men dream of the loss science sustained when they 
flung the fragments of what, in their eyes, was only a dis¬ 
gusting slimy mass to their hungry dogs. Fortunately, 
however, Mr. Geo. Simms, Magistrate of Grand Bank, 
hoard of the strange fish which had landed, and was in 
time to secure some important measurements of the crea¬ 
ture. Incompliance with my request he has kindly fur¬ 
nished me with full particulars of his examination of the 
fragments which remained. He found the tentacula, or 
long arms, twenty-six feet in length and sixteen inches in 
circumference. The eight short arms were one third the 
length of the long ones, and about the same in circumfer¬ 
ence. The head or central part, from which the arms ra¬ 
diated, was thirty-six inches in circumference. The body 
was thirteen and a half feet in length, me asurrng from 
the point of junction with the central part lo the extrem¬ 
ity of the tail; so that the entire length of the body must 
have been over fourteen feet. The circumference of the 
body is not given. Mr. Simms was fortunately able to se¬ 
cure the beak and one sucker, which he presented to me. 
These I have forwarded to Prof. Verrill, of Yale College, 
New Haven, who has made a special study of the whole sub¬ 
ject. The beak is very large and powerful, and the sucker is 
over an inch iu diameter, liaviDg denticulated edges. It is 
singular to find that though the body of this specimen was 
twice the length of the Logie Bay specimen, the tentacula 
were only two feet longer, though very much thicker. Al¬ 
together this must have been a formidable monster to en¬ 
counter, with its body fourteen feet in length, and at least 
ten feel in circumference. Those arms, twenty-six feet in 
length, and armed at the extremities with powerful 
counts of them become frequent. In 1754, Pontoppidan, 
Bishop of Bergen, gave an account of a monster which he 
named the Kraken, a wonderful production of the human 
imagination. lie says of it that "the Norwegian fisher¬ 
men sometimes find unexpected shallows when a short dis¬ 
tance out at sea, the depth - suddenly diminishing from one 
hundred fathoms to twenty or thirty. Then they know 
that the Kraken is rising, and immediately retreat. His 
back first appears, looking like a number of small islands; 
bis arms rise above the surface like the masts of a vessel, 
and are said to have power to grasp the largest man-of-war 
and pull it to the bottom,” The same imaginative writer 
was the first to set afloat the story of the sea serpent and 
other astounding monsters of the deep. Coming dowu to 
the days of Capt. Cook, we find that the mutilated body of 
a calamary was found floating iu the South Seas by Banks 
and Solanda, during Cook’s second voyage, and was for¬ 
warded to the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, 
London, and there examined by Prof. Owen, who estima¬ 
ted that it was six feet long when perfect. The most com¬ 
plete and reliable account, up to recently, was that of the 
eminent naturalist, Prof. Slcenstrup: “At the re-union of 
the Scandinavian naturalists at Copenhagen, in the year 
1847, Prof. Steenstrup contributed a record of two gigan¬ 
tic ceplialopods captured in the years 1689 and 1790 on the 
coasts of Zeeland; aud later on, in 1850, supplemented 
these observations with some remarks of high interest 
upon another specimen found at the Skag, Jutland, in the 
year 1854 This last example was cut to pieces by ihe 
fishermen to bait their lines, the dismembered body fur¬ 
nishing many barrow loads, or in its entire condition, ac¬ 
cording to some writers, filling a large cart. The pharynx 
of this monster which, with its contained beak, equalled 
in size an infant’s head, was unfortunately the only portion 
of the animal preserved. This, however, with the records 
of the two examples from the neighboring islands of Zee- 
land, supplied Prof. Steenstrup with material for the insti¬ 
tution of his new genus Archileuthis dux, he, according to 
Crosse and Fischer, bestowing upon the species of which 
the pharynx was preserved the title of ArchitcuOas dux, 
and upon that represented by the two examples recorded 
as captured in the years 1639 and 1790, the provisional one 
of Architeuthia mo/iuchva," 
Among British naturalists, W. Saville Kent, F, L. S., 
late Superintending Naturalist of the Brighton Aquarium, 
now of the Manchester Aquarium, has devoted most at¬ 
tention to the study of these oceanic monstrosities. In a 
highly interesting article in the Popular Science Review for 
April, 1874, he gives the results of His examination of the 
subject, dwelling at length on my account of the arm cut 
off by the fishermen in Conception Bay, as well as that of 
the specimeu from Logie Bay, and enlarging on their im¬ 
portance he proposes “in the event of it not being possible 
lo identify the St. John’s specimens with Prof, Stecn- 
stiup’s Architmithis, to institute for them the generic title 
of Majaloteuthis, or giant calamary, and lo further distin¬ 
guish them, both being of the same species as Megaloleuihis ' 
Harvepi, in recognition of the great service to science ren¬ 
dered through Mr. Harvey’s stops taken to preserve these 
valuable specimens. To Ibis gentleman, indeed, we are 
indebted for the means of solving and setting at rest for¬ 
ever the long-vexed problem of the existence even of these 
formidable monsters of the deep.” Mr. Kent concludes 
his valuable paper in the following terms:— 
“Having satisfactorily established the existence of these 
monarchs of the ocean, it now remains for science to elu¬ 
cidate their habits and social economy. The facilities for 
this, however, are not at present very extensive. The fact 
of many individuals having made their appearance within 
a limited area, aud at intervals following with marked 
closeness upon one another, would seem to indicate that 
they are gregarious, and iu this respect participate in a 
habit dominant with the majority of their less pretentious 
congeners. In the common squid— loligu— the number of 
ova'Vleposited by the female is something astounding, hav¬ 
ing been computed by Bobadseh at no less than 40,900! If 
anything approaching such a degree of prolificnesB obtains 
in these giants of their race, it is a matter of wonder that 
more has not been seen of them. Against this, however, 
it may be argued that, like the members of the whale tribe, 
they usually affect the open ocean, aud ouly approach the 
land when driven by stress of wind or tide. Unlike the 
whales, a shoal of these might pass a ship unnoticed, hav¬ 
ing no occasion to rahe the surface of their bodies above 
the level of the water to take iu atmospheric air, as with 
the former. The great speed, moreover, with which all 
members of this group shoot through the medium they in¬ 
habit aided by their powerful vision, would enable them to 
avoid with ease a threatened danger in the form of an ap¬ 
proaching ship. Associated with this aspect it is also wor¬ 
thy of note that in the majority of instances the examples 
encountered have been dead, or in a muLilated or exhaust¬ 
ed condition. 
"The question of the food upon which these monsters 
live has not yet been determiued, though it in all proba¬ 
bility consists principally of living fish, in common with 
most of their predacious race. The destruction they work 
among the finny tribes in this case must, on account of 
their enormous size, be very great; but as through the scale 
of nature we find one tribe warring upon another, and 
fiually subservient for the support of one still 
more powerful, we shall find that these giaut 
calamaries are themselves an easy prey to otlmr 
tenants of the deep. The whales, in fact, with which 
they have been compared in size, are their most formidable 
and implacable loes, and probably the ouly animals exist¬ 
ing who could oppose these monsters with any prospect of 
success iu their native element. Our remarks in this case 
are of course restricted to Ihe toothed whales, aud with 
these we have abundaut evidence to show that tiie colossal 
cephalopoda constitute a favorite diet. 
“So large a mass of evidence has now been laid before 
our readers, that to further augment it would be needless. 
Bumming up the whole, we are forced to admit that this 
group of cephalopodous molluscs contains representatives uf 
enormous dimensions distributed iu the seas throughout 
the globe, aud embracing, iu all probability, many distinct 
genera and species. Buch is the formidable size of these 
giant calninuries that they vie even with the cetacea in 
magnitude, and in this respect yield to no other animals 
now existing. It further appears obvious that the numer¬ 
ous tales ami traditions that have been current from the 
earliest times concerning the existence of colossal species 
of this race, though in some instances unscrupulously ex¬ 
aggerated, had iu all probability, in the main, a back¬ 
ground work of fact, and can be no longer passed over as 
the mere fabrications of a disordered mind, as we have 
been hitherto inclined lo accept them.” 
Siuce the publication of the article from which the fore- 
going extracts are taken, Prof. Verrill of Yale College, to 
whom I forwarded fragments of the Logie Bay specimen, 
has made an exhaustive study of the whole subject, aud 
lias published the results of his investigations in the Amer¬ 
ican Raiuralist for January and February, 1875, and in the 
American Journal of Science and Arts for February, 1875. 
These are illustrated by beautiful engravings of the differ¬ 
ent parts of the creature, and by a restoration of the entire 
Logie Bay specimen. Prof. Verrill stales in these articles 
that lie is able to cite twelve American examples, and has 
had opportunity to study portions of five of these speci¬ 
mens. "These,” he says, “evidently represent two dis¬ 
tinct species, both of which belong to^ tku genus Architeu- 
this of Steenstrup (or Megaloteuthis of Keut).” He proposes 
to name the one of these Architeutlds princepe, and the 
3 eeond he considers identical with the Architeuiha mona- 
c/mh of Steenstrup, and “seems to he the species most com¬ 
monly met with on tile coasts of Newfoundland and Lab¬ 
rador,’’ 
He says: “The most complete specimen that has ever 
come under scientific observation was captured iu Novem¬ 
ber, 1873, in Logie Bay, near St.John’s, Newfoundland. 
It became entangled in herring nets, and was sceured hy 
the fishermen with some difficulty, and only after quite a 
struggle, during which its head was badly mutilated and 
severed from the body, and the eyes, most of the syphon- 
tube, and the front edge of the mantle were destroyed. 
Fortunately this specimen was secured by the Row M. 
Harvey of St. Johns. After it had been photographed and 
measured, he attempted to preserve it entire in brine, but 
this was found to be ineffectual, and after decomposition, 
had begun to destroy some of the most perishable parts, 
