The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-11-10

feet in circumference. There are eight
short arms, which at the point of juno
ton with the central mass are seventeen
inches in circumference, but at their ex-
.remities taper down to fine-tongue-like
points, having rows of suckers along one
side. l tried to count these suckers on
one arm, which is eleven feet in length,
and made out $50, large and small; so
that the eight arms must contain 1900
suckers; the long arms perhaps $50 more.
The head or central mass, from which
the arms radiate, is four and one-half
feet in circumference. Unfortunately
the delicate eyes had been destroyed on
the voyage or in puttingiI on board; but
the socket of one measured eight inches
in diameter.
The appearance of the animal when in
the water is described by the fishermen
as extraordinary. The tail had got fast
on rock as it was swimming backward,
and it was rendered powerless. In its
desperate efforts to escape the ten arms
darted about in all directions, lashing the
water into foam, the thirty-foot tentacles
in particular making lively play as it
shot them out and endeavored to get a
purchase" with their powerful suckers,
so as to drag itself into deep water. 1t
was only when it became exhausted and
the tide receded that the fishermen
ventured to approach it. Its mode of
moving through the water is remarkable.
Behind the head on one side tube or
funnel is visible, which is connected
with the bronchial or breathing organs.
Nba, . Il to H.,
valves, which allow it to enter on the
muscular dilatation of the body; and
when the water so admitted has COM
municated its oxygen to the blood it is
expelled by this tube, just as in the case
of fishes it is driven out by the gills
But then this effete water, after purify
ing the blood of the creature, is not
merely got rid of, but is utilized so as to
be subservient to the movements of the
animal. BY ejecting the water through
the funnel with force it is, by the reac-
ton of the surrounding medium, enabled
to dart backward with amazing rapidity.
This is its usual mode of locomotion, and
nothing can surpass the ease and ele-
gance of such movements. The body
is just visible above the surface of
the water; the funnel is at work below,
like an hydraulic engine, ejecting the
water, while the triangular fin which
forms the tail acts the part of a front
rudder and direct the way. 1t also moves
forward by means of the Unlike expan-
sion of its tail, and sideways by means
of the side-tins or the expansions of the
mantle. 1t can also use its arms and
legs and crawl along the bottom of the
sea with its head downward. The back
ward motion, however, is that which is
most graceful and natural in the giant
squid. When moving through the water
its arms are folded together. When
grasping its prey it shoots out one of the
long, 1.-THE tentacles, which are endowed
with a high degree of muscularity, and
as quickly as a cat can clap her paw on
a mouse the eXtremities of the arm COW
cred with suckers seizes the object by
the suckers, the pistons of which are
quickly retracted and the sharp, denticu
lated edges are pressed with enormous
force on the surface of the victim Then
the other arms Irvine round and grasp it,
and from that corpse-like embrace there
is no escape.
When taken from the water the color of
the squid was dusky red, but that has dis
appeared, and the body and arms are
now perfectly white. There is the usual
horny beak, the parrot-like mandibles of
which project from the membraneous
bag in the center of the mass which con-
stitute the head, and from which ten
arms radiate. Certainly the idea of be-
ing clutched in those terrible arms, from
which there could be no escape when
once they had closed, and then torn and
rent by the formidable beak, is enough
to send shuddering thrill through the
stoutest heart. Looking at this creature,
one can understand that the wild tales
told of Krakens and other great cuttles
in the Indian seas, though greatly exag
gerated, had a very substantial foundation
in fact. Posterior to the head were
pair of huge staring eyes. Their
expression, when the creature was alive
on the beach, is said by the fishermen to
have been peculiarly ferocious. The
Governor, Sir. John Glover, visited it,
and declared that in all his heightened
experience in Africa he had seen moth
ing half so wonderful. 1t is very per-
ishable, and in short time decomposi
ton set in and it can only be preserved
in the strongest alcohol.