GIGANTIC CUTTLE-FISH. 
121 
suckers, with fine sharp teeth round their edges, and having a 
membrane stretched across each ; of these there are about 
seventy. Then come two rows of very large suckers, the move- 
able disk of each 1J in. in diameter, the cartilaginous ring 
not being denticulated ; these are twenty-four in number. 
After these there is another group of suckers with denticulated 
edges, similar to the first, and about fifty in number. Along 
the under surface about forty more small suckers are dis- 
tributed at intervals, making in all about 1 80 suckers on the 
arm.” 
Respecting the dimensions of the body of this enormous 
creature the fishermen appear to have been too terrified at the 
time of the encounter to form a correct estimate. According 
to their statement it measured no less than 60 ft. in length ; 
but, as lately observed by Professor Verrill, this was probably in- 
tended for the entire dimensions, including the arms, leaving 
about 20 ft. for the body proper. The portion of the ordinary 
arm that was severed at the same time, but afterwards destroyed, 
is said to have been 6 ft. long and 10 in. in diameter. 
Scarcely had the news of this remarkable adventure and 
acquisition reached this country, than intelligence was received 
through the same source, from the Rev. Mr. Harvey, that a 
second gigantic Cuttle-fish, little inferior in size to the one just 
described, had been taken in a herring-net by three fishermen, 
in Logie Bay, some three miles from St. John’s. The for- 
midable arms having become entangled in the folds of the net, 
the creature’s power of resistance was almost completely anni- 
hilated ; it nevertheless required the efforts of all the men 
to finally overcome it, and it was not before they had 
succeeded in severing the monster’s head from its body that 
they were able to take possession of their prize. The entire 
body of this Cuttle-fish was brought to St. John’s, and photo- 
graphs were made of it and steps taken to preserve the whole. 
An excellent reproduction of the best photograph taken, repre- 
senting the anterior portion with the beak and all the arms, 
appeared with Mr. Harvey’s account of the same in the 
“ Field ” for January 31.* The body of this specimen measures 
8 ft. in length, with a girth of 5 ft., the two longest tentacles 
24 ft., and the eight shorter arms each 6 ft. in length. The for- 
midable horny, parrot-like beak is the size of a man’s fist, and 
the membranous sockets of the prominent eyes gave a dia- 
meter of 4 inches. The description and figures published of 
this example leave no doubt that it is a smaller individual of 
the same species of which a single tentacle only was secured a 
* Through the kind courtesy of the Proprietors of the “ Field,” we are 
enabled to present our readers with an engraving of the same on p. 1 22. 
