124 
POPULAK SCIENCE KEVIEW. 
this article to the Zoological Society of London, and in which 
was adduced further evidence of the existence of these monsters, 
by the description of an arm no less than 9 ft. long, preserved in 
the vaults of the British Museum, but of which unfortunately 
no authenticated record has been preserved. Reference to this 
gigantic limb was made by the same author in the “ Guide Book 
to the Brighton Aquarium,” published in June 1873,* the true 
position among the Calamaries, and the probable total length of 
the perfect animal, being then anticipated. These latter dimen- 
sions were estimated at close upon 40 ft., and the events of 
the past few months show that this calculation was rather under 
than over-rated. In the perfect specimen captured in Logie 
Bay the comparative proportions of the arms to the two larger 
tentacula is just one to four, the former measuring 6 and the 
latter 24 ft. ; the arm at the British Museum being clothed 
with suckers throughout its length proves it to be one of the 
eight shorter arms, so that the two tentacula in the same pro- 
portion would have reached to a length of 36 ft., and which, 
joined to the 15 or 20 additional feet, which were no doubt re- 
presented by the body of the animal, we arrive at a length of 
little less than 60 ft., or in fact the exact proportions given by 
the fishermen of the monster first encountered in Conception 
Bay. This remarkable arm in our national Museum some 
years since enjoyed a niche in the public galleries, and was on 
account of that circumstance alone remembered by the author, 
it having struck him, on his first visit to that overflowing 
storehouse of treasures, as one of the most extraordinary exam- 
ples in the whole collection. As such it produced an indelible 
impression, and the instructive and interesting nature of this 
specimen will, it is to be hoped, once more secure its return 
from its present place of retirement to a position where it 
may now meet with wider appreciation. The suckers in this 
arm are much more thickly set than in either of the Newfound- 
land examples already described; there being a double row 
from one extremity to the other, and each row containing 
from 145 to 150, or a total of just 300 suckers to the whole 
arm. In the example from Logie Bay, one arm 6 ft. long is 
estimated to have only about 100 of these suckers ; this sup- 
ports an opinion already expressed that, if of the same species, 
the arm in the British Museum was considerably longer 
before it was subjected to the contracting influences of the 
spirit in which it is now immersed. At the same time this 
evidence of the British Museum specimen was submitted to the 
Zoological Society’s notice, it was proposed, in the event of it 
not being possible to identify the St. John’s specimens with 
Also in edition since issued, with the Author’s name excised. 
