﻿159 Geology and Natural History. 



by Professor Steenstrup, who saw a photograph of them, to belong 

 to his Architeuthis ))ionae/}iis, wliich iiiliabits the northern coasts 

 of Europe, but is still very imperfectly known. The horny jaw or 

 beak from this s])ecimen is thick and strong, nearly black; it is 

 acute at the apex, with a decided notch or angle on the inside, 

 about •15 of an inch from the point, and beyond the notch is a 

 large prominent angular lobe. The body of the specimen from 

 which this jaw was taken is stated to have measured 15 feet in 

 length and 4 feet 8 inches in circumference. The arms were mu- 

 tilated, but the portions remaining were estimated to be 9 or 10 

 feet long, and 22 inches in circumference, two being shorter than 

 the rest. It was estimated to weigh 2000 pounds. 



(2). A large individual attacked two men, who were in a small 

 boat, in Conception Bay, and two of the arms which it threw 

 across the boat were cut oii' with a hatchet, and brought ashore. 

 Full accounts of this adventure, written by Mr. M. Harvey, have 

 been published in many of the newspapers.* One of the severed 

 arms, or a part of it, was preserved in the museum at St. John, 

 and a photograpli of it is now before me. This fragment repre- 

 sents the distal half of one of the long tentacidar-arms, with its ex- 

 panded terminal portion covered with suckers, 24 of which are 

 larger, in two rows, with the border not serrate, but 1'25 inch in 

 diameter; the others are smaller, very nmnerous, with the edge 

 supported by a serrated calcareous ring. The part of the arm pre- 

 served measured 10 feet in length, and 3-5 inches in circumference, 

 but wider, " like an oar," and inches in circumference, near the 

 end where the suckers are situated; but its length, when entire, 

 was estimated at 42 feet.f The other arm Avas destroyed and no 

 description was made, but it was said to have been 6 feet long and 

 10 inches in diameter ; it was evidently one of the eight shorter 

 sessile arms. The estimate given for the length of the "body" of 

 this creature (00 feet) was probaUly intended for the entire length, 

 including the arms. 



(3). A specimen was found alive in shalloAV water, at Coomb's 

 Cove, and captured. Concerning this (me 1 have seen only news- 

 paper accounts. It is stated that its body measured ten feet in 

 lenijth and was " nearly as large round as a hogshead " (10 to 12 

 feet) ; its two long arms (of Avhich only one remained) were forty- 

 two feet in length and " as large as a man's wrist ;" its short arms 

 were six feet m length, but about nine inches in diameter, " very 

 stout and strong ;" the suckers had a serrated edge. The color Avas 

 reddish. The loss of one long arm and the correspondence of the 

 other in size to the one ampt^ttated from No. 2, justifies a suspic- 

 ion that this was actually the same individual that attacked the 

 boat. But if not, it Avas probably one of the same species, and of 

 about the same size. 



* Also in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, January, 187-i, with a 



wood-cut of the arm. , , • , ..-u vi 



f Doubtless these long arms are very contractile and changeable in length like 

 those of the ordinary squids. 



