Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-04-06
CONCERNING THE DEVIL FISH.
What Prof Bicknore Had to Tell the
school Teachers.
from tho Wear York Times.


1t was very horrible monster that
Prof. b GILMORE, OF the American Museum
OF Natural History, pictured as a devil
fish IN the fifth of bis series Of lectures to
teachers on the animal kingdom. lie
placed before their minds hideous crea-
ture with staring, CLASSY eyes and long,
supple, suake-hke arms, covered with a
series Of cups or suckers-an animal
which took delight in lying in wait for its
prey in crevices of the rocks at the bot
tom Of the ocean, and in shooting forth it's
long arm with lightning rapidity and fas-
tening itself with such tenacity to the OBJ
ject attacked that it could be released only
by tearing the sucker from the arm of the
fish. Like many Wild beasts. the Profess
sor said, the devil fish enjoys carrying
away It's prey to some secluded spot,
ana there tearing it III pieces with it's
Moray beak.
Devil fishes, he said, were divided into
the etght-arm and the ten-ern spec es.
The arms contain no bones. but are trav-
ersed 10y muscles longitudinally and at
the same time transyersely, which not
| only lnsureS great strength but q wonder
idl raPldity Of motion as we'll. The suck
ers were shown to work much after the
fashion Of an air pump. When the disk
| sJrlGes an object it contracts, and what
might be termed a piston rod within the
sucker is drawn back, forming a vacuum
within the sucker. The manner in which
the devil fish propels itself was described.
Water is admitted into the spacious
stomach through fabby opening in the
SIDE, which is closed by the forcible con-
traction OF the body. This movement
forces the water out of the stomach
through what is known as the "siphon"
OF the fish. The reaction sends the fish
backward through the water with great
velocity. The lecturer exhibited com
mon sauid, sueh as those seen in mar
ket places. It was, he said, species of
devil fish, ard in its natural state had the
| power TO pass through a series of brilliant
! c0iors, changing from one TO another with
wonderful rapldity. After being taken
| from the water, he added, it becomes
translucent and spotted with black. In
life the spots were said to be sacks of Diff
terent ceiors which could be flashed out
at Will, first one color and then another.
! One OF the means of seii-prOtecti0n pos
scssed by the sqlfd was remarked in what
is called an INK bag When pursued
the animal wall emit a dark huid from
the bag, cof0ring the water aB ink
like black, in which it makes good its
escape.
One Of the largest s9uias ever captured,
the Professor said, had a body twenty
feet long With thirty -tiye-iOot arms. The
stories of sea monsters told by New
fOundiand fishermen were regarded as
mythical until a few years since, when
portion of an enormous squid was cap
tured by a couple OF brave fishers and
brought ashore. Only a few Of the tull-
grown fish had been seen or captured.
| but this fact indicated tbat they preferred
| staying in deep water rather than that
there were few in existence. HideOus as
| is the devil fish, the ancients We're said to
have possessed an exaggerated idea of its
! size and responsiveness. To illustrate this
/ fact a copy of an ancient picture was ex-
| hibited, representing a large ship envel-
! oped ia the arms of monster made up
! after the devil fish architecture.
The arEOnauta, which were so praeti-
! cally pictured in ancient fable as coming
to bhe surfRee, raising a pair of filmy
wings AMI 1eadRg before the gentle
breVzes, 1850 were classified as a speehs
Of de vii FISH. What the ancients took for
wings were said TO be two web-like arms.
Tie she'll Of the argonauta, il was learned,
is net fAsted to the body, but simply held
in position by the arms. In it the female
carries about her eggs and her young,
protecting them as hen does her chickens
beneath her wings. Some rare aud vain
able specimens of the various animals de-
scribed were exhibited.