32 
THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
attempt thus made to retain it, Prof. Beale at length seized one of the tenta¬ 
cles with his hands, and a veritable tug of war ensued. Small as the ani¬ 
mal was, its hold upon the rocks was marvellously tenacious, and for a consid¬ 
erable time he was unable to detach it, but a supreme effort, accompanied by 
a jerk, finally served to separate the creature’s hold, but with most disastrous 
results to the naturalist. The moment that its arms were free the terrible 
squid flew, with an amazing exhibition of passion for so small a thing, directly 
at the naturalist, and fixed itself with the same tenacious hold upon his bared 
arm. It was now Prof. Beale’s time to cry for quarter, which he did most lustily, 
but with his cries he coupled a stout resistance, seeing that the creature was 
making every exertion to reach his arm with its powerful parrot-like beak, which 
if successful would probably 
ATTACKED BY A SQUID. 
take most of the flesh from that 
member. His cries fortunately 
were heard by the captain of 
the vessel, who was also on the 
beach not far distant, and who 
hastened to the professor’s as¬ 
sistance. The two now tried 
in every way to make the crea¬ 
ture quit its hold, but were 
unable to do so, and were finally 
compelled to proceed to the 
landing boat, some distance 
away, all the while holding the 
squid’s horrid head, and there 
to secure a knife with which it 
was cut into many pieces before 
Prof. Beale was finally released 
from his vindictive and extra¬ 
ordinarily tenacious adversary. 
The animal had applied his 
powerful suckers with such 
force to the bared arm that 
blood was drawn in consider¬ 
able quantity wherever the 
dreadful cups had been at¬ 
tached. 
If such power resides in so small a creature as is here described (and the 
account seems authoritative), what might one nearly twenty times larger be able 
to do ? Imagination must pause here. 
The squid and its congeners produce their young from eggs, after the 
manner of fishes. The eggs, however, are very much larger comparatively, and 
very closely resemble a large bunch of blue-black grapes. They are frequently 
found thrown on the beach, especially after a storm, and it requires a long ex¬ 
posure before their vitality is destroyed. If the eggs are taken within a few 
hours after deposition and placed in a tank of fresh sea-water they will germi¬ 
nate, after passing through many alterations in appearance, and let loose the 
most grotesque appearing little creatures—very harlequins—that can be con- 
