THE KRAKEN, 
37 
his anatomical friend, he searched for, and found in a bottle 
marked " J. B.," portions of its arms, the beak with tongue, a 
heart ventricle, &c., and, amongst the dry preparations, the 
terminal part of the body, with an attached pair of rhom- 
boidal fins. The remainder had furnished Cook and his 
companions Banks and Solander with a welcome change of 
diet in the commander's cabin of the Endeavour. As the 
inner surface of the arms of the squid, as well as the 
terminals of its tentacles, were studded with hooks, Professor 
Owen named it Enoploteuthis Cookii. He estimates the 
diameter of the tail fin at 1 5 inches, the length of its body 
3 feet, of its head 10 inches, of the shorter arms 16 inches, 
and of the longer tentacles about the same as its body — 
thus giving a total length of about 6 ft. 9 in. Although 
individuals of other species, of larger dimensions, are known 
to have existed, this is the largest specimen of the hook- 
armed calamaries that has been scientifically examined. 
It would have been a formidable antagonist to a man under 
circumstances favourable to the exertion of its strength, and 
the use of its prehensile and lacerating talons. 
Peron,* the well-known French zoologist, mentions having 
seen at sea, in 1801, not far from Van Diemen's Land, at a 
very little distance from his ship, Le Ghgraphe, a " Sepia," 
of the size of a barrel, rolling with noise on the waves ; its 
arms, between 6 and 7 feet long, and 6 or 7 inches in 
diameter at the base, extended on the surface, and writhing 
about like great snakes. He recognised in this, and no 
doubt correctly, one of the calamaries. The arms that he 
saw were evidently the animal's shorter ones, as under such 
circumstances, with neither enemy to combat nor prey to 
seize at the moment, the longer tentacles would remain 
concealed. 
* ' Voyage de Ddcouvertes aux Terres Australes.' 
