164 
ANIMAL CURIOSITIES 
upon the Atlantic beach of Florida, near Saint 
Augustine, one arm (the only remaining one) 
attaining to a length of forty feet. It was 
estimated that the full stretch of this creature 
when alive would have been one hundred feet 
or more. 
An interesting account of a gigantic squid 
is published in the Proceedings of the Zoological 
Society , from which we take the following 
extract: “ Two fishermen, when plying their 
vocation off Belle Island, Conception Bay, 
suddenly discovered, at a short distance from 
them, a dark shapeless mass floating upon 
the surface of the water. Concluding that 
it was probably part of a cargo of some wrecked 
vessel, they approached, anticipating a valu¬ 
able prize, and one of them struck the object 
with his boat-hook. Upon receiving the shock 
the dark heap became suddenly animated. . . . 
The men were petrified with terror, and for a 
moment so fascinated by the horrible sight as 
to be powerless to stir. Before they had time 
to recover their presence of mind, the monster, 
now but a few feet from the boat, suddenly 
shot out from around its head several long 
arms of corpse-like fleshiness, grappling with 
them for the boat and seeking to envelop it 
in their folds. Only two of these reached the 
craft and, owing to their length, went com- 
