HABITS  OF  THE  CUTTLE  FISH. 
549 
lithe  arms  with  their  cold  adhesive  powers,  their  uncouth  agility, 
their  cunning  adroitness  and  intelligence,  and  especially  the 
look  of  their  ghastly  green  eyes,  make  them  decidedly  no 
canny."    It  does  not  need  that  they  should  be  sufficiently  co- 
lossal in  dimensions  to  throw  their  arms  over  a  ship's  hull  and 
drag  her  under  water,  as  Oriental  tales  pretend,  and  as  old- 
fashioned  naturalists  believed,  to  induce  us  to  give  to  them  a 
wide  berth.    It  would  not  be  pleasant  to  be  entwined  in  the 
embrace  of  those  arms  ;  and  we  can  sympathize  with  Mr.  Beale, 
who  has  described  his  feelings  during  an  encounter  which  he 
had  with  a  beastie  of  this  sort,  while  engaged  in  searching  for 
shells  among  the  rocks  of  the  Bonin  Islands.    He  was  much 
astonished  at  seeing  at  his  feet  a  most  extraordinary  looking 
animal,  crawling  towards  the  surf,  which  it  had  only  just  left. 
It  was  creeping  on  its  eight  legs,  which,  from  their  soft  and 
flexible  nature,  bent  considerably  under  the  weight  of  its  body, 
so  that  it  was  lifted  by  the  efforts  of  its  tentacula  only  a  small 
distance  from  the  rocks.     It  appeared  much  alarmed  at  seeing 
him,  and  made  every  effort  to  escape.    Mr.  Beale  endeavored 
to  stop  it  by  pressing  on  one  of  its  legs  with  his  foot ;  but  al- 
though he  used  considerable  force  for  that  purpose,  its  strength 
was  so  great  that  it  several  times  liberated  its  member,  in  spite 
of  all  the  efforts  he  could  employ  on  the  wet  and  slippery  rocks. 
He  then  laid  hold  of  one  of  the  tentacles  with  his  hand,  and  held 
it  firmly,  so  that  it  appeared  as  if  the  limb  would  be  torn  asun- 
der  by  the  united  efforts  of  himself  and  the  creature.    He  then 
gave  it  a  powerful  jerk,  wishing  to  disentangle  it  from  the  rocks 
to  which  it  clung  so  forcibly  by  its  suckers.    This  effort  it  ef- 
fectually resisted  ;  but,  the  moment  after,  the  apparently  en- 
raged animal  lifted  its  head,  with  its  large  projecting  eyes,  and, 
loosing  its  hold  of  the  rocks,  suddenly  sprang  upon  Mr.  Beale's 
arm  (which  he  had  previously  bared  to  the  shoulder  for  the 
purpose  of  thrusting  it  into  holes  in  the  rocks  after  shells)  and 
clung  to  it  by  means  of  its  suckers  with  great  power,  endeavor- 
ing to  get  its  beak,  which  could  now  be  seen  between  the  roots 
of  its  arms,  in  a  position  to  bite.    A  sensation  of  horror  per- 
vaded his  whole  frame,  when  he  found  that  this  monstrous  ani- 
mal had  fixed  itself  so  firmly  on  his  arm.    He  describes  its  cold, 
slimy  grasp  as  extremely  sickening  ;  and  he  loudly  called  to  the 
