1873.] 161 [Murray. 



The Rev. Mr. R. C. Waterston gave an account of the 

 habits of the Prairie Dog ( Cynomys ludovicianus) . A living 

 specimen which Mr. Waterston had brought to exhibit to the 

 meeting could not, unfortunately, be induced to leave his 

 nest; some excellent figures were, however, shown. 



The Sscretary read the following extracts from a letter 

 communicated by Prof. Jules Marcou : — . 



St. John, Newfoundland, Nov. 10, 1873. 



My Dear Sir : — The following account of a remarkable marine 

 monster, which made its appearance off the shores of this island, and 

 of a severed arm or tentacle of the same, now in my possession, will 

 I dare say be interesting to you, and also to Prof. Agassiz, to whom 

 I should like to offer it. 



On or about the 25th of October last, while a man by the name of 

 Theophilus Picot was engaged at his usual occupation of fishing, off 

 the eastern end of Great Bell Island in Conception Bay, his attention 

 was attracted to an object floating on the surface of the water, which 

 at a distance he supposed to be a sail, or the debris of some wreck, 

 but which proved upon nearer inspection to be endowed with life. 

 Picot, on observing that the object was alive, to satisfy his curiosity 

 pushed his boat alongside, and I believe struck at it with an oar or 

 boatdiook, whereupon the creature's fury seemed to be aroused, and it 

 struck at the bottom of the boat with its beak, and immediately after- 

 ward threw its monstrous tentacles over the boat, which probably it 

 might have dragged to the bottom had not Picot with great presence 

 of mind severed one (or more) of the tentacles with his axe. A part 

 of this tentacle or sucking arm I have now in my possession, im- 

 mersed in spirits. I send you with this letter a couple of photo- 

 graphs of the said tentacle, and a few of the small denticulated 

 sucking cups, all of which I hope will reach you safely. 



Picot represents the body of the animal to have been about sixty 

 feet long, and its general diameter as not less than five feet. The 

 breadth of the tail he represents as at least ten feet. He states that 

 when the creature found itself mutilated it made off backwards, or 

 tail foremost, after the manner of squids, darkening the water over a 

 large space with inky emissions. The enormous proportions given 

 above might appear to be exaggerations, were they not to a great 



PROCEEDINGS B. P. N. H. — VOL. XVT. 11 MARCH. 1874. 



