Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-03-05

u
some eighteen feet long, thickly set with
strong teeth. He dives down, it seems,
and bites off the arms of these huge devil,
fish, and devours them. A writer in the
Naturalist of February, 1873, says: "It
is prevalent opinion among seamen that
the largest being that swims is a colossal
suuid or cuttle-tish." So here we come al
last to that old, tough story of Bishop
Pontoppidan that has long been looked
upon as the greatest ''fish-story" extant.
Briefly given, it is this:
The Norwegian fishermen sometimes
| find unexpected shadows when a short
distance out at sea, the depth suddenly
diminishing from one hundred fathoms
to twenty or thirty. Then they know
that the kraken is rising, and they i'm
mediately retreat. His back first appears,
| looking like a number of small
| islands. His arms rise above the
surface like the masts of a vessel, and
are said to have power to grasp
the largest man-of-war and pull it to
the bottom. Pontoppidan's time was from
1893 to 1865, and Norwegian men-of-war,
in those days, were not as large as ours.
If we allow the longest piece said to be
bitten off by the sperm-whale (fOrty feet
to be two-thirds of the arm, this would
give arms sixty feet long; and such arms,
on such monster, might well be for mid
able to small vessel.
In a recent number of Nature June 3,
1879, the following extract gives very
curious proof Of the possibility Of such an
attack: "a recent copy of the Japan
Gazette states that huge cephalopod is
now shown in a house near the temple at
Asaka, Yeddo. 1t seems that a fishing
boat was seized by its tentacles, while Oft
the village of Kononoto, and that the
boatmen killed the creature by repeated
blows. It's body was sixteen feet long"
Since the above was written, curious
confirmation of these facts and possiblli-
ties has occurred quite near to us-in fact,
almost upon our own coast
The Rev. NJ. Harvey, of Newfoundland,
in a recent communication, says:
GA few days ago October 26, 1879, two
of our fishermen were out, in asmall boat.
in Conception Bay, near Portugal Cove,
when they saw a dark, shapeless mass
floating on the water.
"On approaching, the men concluded it
was huge bale of goods-perhaps part
of the cargo Of some wrecked vessel
and that they had found a valuable
prize. One of them struck the OBJ
ject with his bOat-hoOk, when sud-
denly the dark heap became animated,
opened out like a huge umbrella without
a handle, and the norror-stricken fisher
men beheld pair of green eyes, full of
intelligence, but also OF ferocity, glazing
at them, while its huge, parrot-like beak
opened with savage and malignant pur-
pose. The men were petritied with ter
rOT, and, for moment, so fascinated
ha hCrvi irhf hot
powerless.
"The eyes of the monster were pecul-
iarly large and prominent, bright, and
apparently cleaning with rage. Before
the fishermen could make any attempt to
escape, the creature, now but few feet
from the boat appeared to open out, and
suddenly there shot out from around its
face several long arms of corpse-like
fleshiness Had these 1.-the, Shiny arms,
with their death-like adhesive powers,
once fastened themselves on the boat or
the men, nothing could have saved them
from destruction; for, when the suckers
with which they are furnished have taken
hold, nothing can tear them away. They
would have been brought in moment
within reach of the powerful beak which
was ready to dart upon them. 4
"Only one of the longer arms reached
the boat, and, owing to its length, went
completely over and beyond it. Quick
as lightning, one of the men seized a
Ratchet, and, at one blow, severed the
corpse-like arm which Was flung over the
boat to drag it to destruction.
''The green-eyed monster uttered no
cry of pain, but moved off; and
the fishermen, who had thus es-
capped a horrible death, found them
selves in possession of the amputated
arm, which has been forwarded from st.
Johns. | have just returned from a care
full examination of it. 1t measures nine
teen feet in length, and, as the fishermen
say the devil-fish must have at least ten
feet Of this arm remaining, the entire
length must have been twenty-nine feet.
1t is tough and tibreus, livid in color, and
pointed at the extremity, where it is COW
cred with rows of suckers, which are car
tilaginOus, horny, and about the size of a
quarter of a dollar. These suckers act
on the principle of a cupping-glass. Each
of them consists of a firm, t1eshy, cartil-
aginous ring, across which disk of mus
cular membrane is stretched, with a cir
cular aperture IN the center. A cone
shaped mass of flesh fills this aperture,
like piston, capable of being drawn
backward The membranous disk eau
also oe drawn in. The moment one of
these disks touches the prey, the devil
fish retracts the fleshy piston, which
creates a vacuum, and makes the edge of
the disk press against the surface, so that
it is impossible to tear them away with
out destroying the arm"
Mr.. Alexander Murray, the geologist of
Newfoundland, in letter to Professor
T,,lao Maroon Hotod Novapo bor IN 1879
and read before the Boston Society
of Natural History, November 10, 1878,
corroborates substantially this account,
adding that the name of the fisherman
who cut off the monsters arm was The
ophilus Picot, and that the animal was
seen off the eastern end Of Great Belle
Island, in Conception Bay. He says: "a
part of this tentac1e | have now in my
possession, immersed in spirits. | send
YOU with this letter a couple of photo
graphs of the said tentacle, and few OF
the small, denticulated sucking cups.
Picot says: The body of the animal was
about sixty feet long, its general diameter
not less than five feet, and the breadth of
its tail at least ten feet He stated that
when the creature found itself mutilated
it made off backward, or tail first, after
the manner of squids, darkening the
water over a large space with inky ennis
sions. The enormous proportions given
above might appear to be exaggerations
were they not to great extent borne out
by the fragment of the animal which was
secured, and of which the photograph
| will give you a fair idea. The beak, or
bill, Picot says, was about as large as a
| six-gallon keg."-Applet0ns Journal