The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-09-19 00:00:00

MONSTER CUTTLE-FISH.

Land and Water publishes the following correspondence
Which has been received by Mr. Frank Buckland :

"Downing-street. —I am directed by the Earl of
Kimberley to transmit you a copy of a despatch from
the Governor -4 Newfoundland, enclosing, with other
papers, photographs iettoltoy gir)r,auhsh :.ftothsehoarremb3o,f
saomgeigittic ceunttol;
that island. Lord brought to
is quite willing that you
should make such use of these papers, in the interest of
science, as you may think proper ; but I am to request
that his Lordship may be informed in which museum
you consider they should be finally deposited.. ROBERT
G. W. HERBERT."

" Government House, Newfoundland.
"My Lord,—The existence of a large cephalopod
in the North Atlantic has been so questioned by
naturalists that I am induced to bring under
your Lordship's notice the circumstances under
which one of the arms of a gigantic cuttlefish
was secured in Conception Bay, Newfoundland.
With this view I have the honour to transmit
copies of two letters from the Rev. Moses Harvey, of
St. John's, Newfoundland, in one of which he des-
cribes the size of the captured arm of that fish, and
deduces from certain &the the proportions of the
cephaloped. In his second letter he describes the
appearance of an almost perfect specimen taken recently
at Logy Bay, though of inferior size to that seen in
Conception Bay. 2. I have further the honour to submit
photographs of the arm and of the cephalopod,
illustrative of the descriptions contained in Mr.
Harvey's letters. 3. I trust that your Lordship will be
pleased to forward the enclosed documents and photo-
graphs to the department of science in London to
which they reIate.—STEPHEN G. HILL."

"My dear Doctor, —I take the liberty of bringing
under your notice some account of a gigantic cuttle-
fish which WA seen a few days ago in Conception Bay.
The circumstances under which it was seen were a
follows :—Two fishermen were out in a small punt, on
the 26th of October, of Portugal Cove, Conception
Bay, about nine miles from St. John's. Observing
some object floating on the water at a short distance,
they rowed towards it, supposing it to be a large sail,
or the debris of a wreck. On reaching it one of the
men struck it with his gaff,' when immediately it
showed signs of life, reared a parrot-like beak, which
they declare was as big as a six gallon keg,' with which
it struck the bottom of the boat violently. It then shot
out from about its head two huge, livid arms, and began
to twine them round the boat. One of the men seized a
small axe, and severed both arms as they lay over the
gunwale of the boat, whereupon the fish moved off, and
ejected an immense quantity of inky fluid, which
darkened the water for two or three hundred yards.
The men saw it for a short time afterward., and
observed its tail in the air, which they declare was
10ft. across. They estimate the body to have been
60ft. in length, Oft. in diameter, of the same shape and
colour as the common squid, and they observed that
it moved in the same way as the squid, both back-
wards and forwards. One of the arms which they
brought ashore was unfortunately destroyed, as they
were ignorant of its importance; but the clergyman
of the village assures me it was 10in, in diameter
and 61t. in length. The other arm was brought
to St. John's, but not before Gft. of it were
destroyed. Fortunately I heard of it, and had it
preserved. Mr. Murray, of the Geological Survey,
and I, afterwards examined it carefully, had it
photographed, and immersed in alcohol; it s now
in our museum. It measured 19ft., is of a pale
pink colour, entirely cartilaginous, tough and pliant
as leather, and very strong. It is but 3lin. in circum-
ference, except towards the extremity., where it
broadens, like an oar, to flin, in circumference, and
then tapers to a pretty fine point. The under surface
I of the extremity is covered with suckers to the very
point. At the extreme end there is a cluster of small
suckers, with fine sharp teeth round their edges, and
having a membrane stretched across each. Of these
there are about 70. Then come two rows of very
large suckers, the movable disc of each 1 ill'. in
diameter, the cartilaginous ring not being denticulated.
These are 24 in number. After these there is another
group of suckers, with denticulated edges (similar to
the first), and about 50 in number. Along the under
surface about 40 more small suckers are distributed
at intervals, making in all about 180 suckers on
the arm. The men estimate that they left about
10ft of the arm attached to the body of the fish,
so that its original length must have been 35ft. A
clergyman here assures me that when he resided at
Lamaline, on the southern coast, in the'year of 1870, the
bodies of two cuttles were cast ashore, measuring 40ft.
and 45ft. respectively. More than once we have had
accounts of gigantic cuttles cast ashore in different
localities, but not until now have any of them been
preserved. By this mail I send you a photograph of
the arm; it is one-fourth the original in size. You
will readily see the suckers at the extremity of the
arm. The discs of several of the larger ones have
been torn off by carelessness on the part of the captors.
A few of them, however, are perfect, and the smaller
ones are not injured. I shall send you also, by this
mail, three or four of these suckers, the smaller being
from the very tip of the extremity, and not much
larger than a pin's head. I shall be glad to hear your
opinion of this fish at your earliest convenience. It is
a great pity one arm was destroyed, and it is still
more to be regretted that we did not get the head of
the monster.—M. HARVEY."

Mr. Bucldand mays that he and Mr. Searle painted
it to life, and it is now in his museum, where it has
received much attention.