310 
THE COMMON SEPIA. 
Another from the coast of Catalina, in Newfoundland, in 1877, had a head and body nine and 
a half feet long, and tentacular arms of thirty fe'et in length. The circumference of the body 
was seven feet. This was the specimen which was brought to the New York Aquarium, and 
there exhibited in a large, shallow tank of spirits. We had the pleasure to examine that 
specimen in company with Prof. Terrill. Such an opportunity had never occurred before, 
and through the courtesy of Mr. Reiche, the proprietor of the Aquarium, we were allowed all 
privileges necessary to measure, describe, and sketch the rare creature. Fortunately, it was 
the best specimen that had been secured, being quite perfect. The body of this creature 
measured nearly ten feet, as we have seen. What was the astonishment, some years later, 
to learn of another of twice the dimensions ! A body so large, made up of soft flesh, like 
a gigantic worm, no bones to stiffen it, the only hard part the thin, isinglass “pen,” seems 
to us, as it lies on the shore, surprisingly helpless and out of harmony with its surround- 
ings. Yet, in the vast ocean depths, how well may it not accord, — as the great whale 
with the same environment. This species of Giant Squid is ArcJiiteutMs prineeps. 
— V err ill. 
But few years since, the largest Cephalopod, Cuttle-fish, or Squid, known to naturalists, 
was scarcely measured by feet. When Victor Hugo wrote “The Toilers of the Sea,” his 
description of the “Devil Fish,” a name applied in some countries for a large Squid or Cuttle, 
was regarded as quite fabulous. The discovery of a portion of an enormous specimen of Squid 
off the shores of Newfoundland in 1873, revealed the fact that not only were there great species 
of this form in the deep waters of the North Atlantic, but that the fishermen of Newfoundland 
have for .several years habitually fed their dogs and other animals on fragments of the great 
creatures that occasionally floated near shore, — always in the shape of dead carcases, no living 
specimens having been seen until near the present day. 
In 1879, the Rev. Mr. Harvey, of Newfoundland, described in the Boston Traveller of 
January 30th, a specimen having the astonishing total length of eighty feet ! — the body being 
twenty feet from the mouth to the point of the tail. He says : “Not far from the locality of 
the other Devil-fishes (as they are there called), on the second day of November, Stephen 
Sherring, a fisherman of Thimble Tickle, Notre Dame Bay, observed some bulky object, and 
as he approached, saw it making desperate efforts to escape. It was aground on the beach, 
and the tide was ebbing. It was churning the water into foam by the motion of its immense 
arms and tail. From the funnel in the top of its head it was ejecting large volumes of water, 
this being its habitual method of moving backward, the force of the stream, by the reaction 
of the surrounding medium, driving it in the required direction. At times it threw forth its 
ink, and blackened the sea around it. Its great bulk could not be started by its pumping, 
and, like a vast hulk, it was hopelessly stranded. At length, as the water receded, and its 
gills were no longer bathed by the all-needful life-giving medium, it died. Most unfor- 
tunately, the fishermen cut the carcase for dogs’ meat, but not before reliable measure- 
ments were made. As we have seen, it was just twice the size of that hitherto regarded 
monster of the kind.” 
The Belemnites, those curious cucumber-like fossils, popularly called Thunderbolts, which 
are found in various strata, are now known to be the remains of ancient Calamaries, of 
which the entire animal, with its mantle, fins, ink-bag, sipbon, eyes, and tentacles, has been 
discovered. 
Our next example is the common Sepia, whose wonderful chalky “bone” is so fre- 
quently thrown on our shores after the death of the animal in which it was developed. 
This so-called bone was formerly in great repute for various purposes, but is now merely 
employed in the manufacture of pounce and dentifrice, for which latter purpose, however, 
prepared chalk is quite as effectual, being indeed the same substance, though in the form of 
powder. It is composed of a vast number of nearly horizontal layers, supported by innumer- 
able little pillars or fibres of the same substance. If one of these shells be snapped across, the 
structure will be well shown even to the naked eye, while with the help of a common pocket- 
lens, even the minutest details can be examined. The upper coat will mostly scale off so as to 
show its smooth surface, while the successive ranges of glittering pillars look like a copy of 
