River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1894-06-07
GIGt MIC SQuIoS.
Stories of the Finding of Mammoth Mem
beers of the Family.

The ordinary squid is a graceful
creature from six inches to a foot in
length. with barrel-shaped body, ter
mipating in pointed tail. The head
is connected to the body by short
neck and bears ten feet or tentacles,
eight of which resemble those of the
octopus, while the other two are longer
and have suckers at the ends only.
The eyes arc large. black and staring:
the mouth and bill are between the
feet, and below them is siphon
through which the squid elects water.
thus forcing itself along. The tenta-
cles are also used in lo.omotion, which
is almost always tail first.
The squid Is very harmless erea-
ture, easily caught and killed. but
when we increase the body length to
twenty feet, the eight tentacles to as
many more, and give the entire animal
a length of fifty or sixty feet. we have
giant that Is simply terrific in APP
pearance. The writer measured one
of these big squids some years ago. 1t
measured about forty-eight feet. AID
its weight in round numbers must
have been a ton.
Reports had come from various
quarters of these gigantic creatures
up 10 twenty years ago, but they were
generally doubted, and considered as
--nsh stories" Bat finally n French
man-ofwar saw one and put out
boat, and made fast to ii with har-
poon. 1t was so large and heavy that
the captain was afraid that il would
injure the men and boats and
forbade pursuit. Soon after this
a report came from New
foundland that was followed mp by the
capture of a monster cutie fish. a
fisherman in coming into the bay of
NOtre Dame saw something floating in
the water, and thinking it wreekage
rowed over to it. When alongside what
proved to be a squid it threw out sew
eral long arms and seized the boat, evi-
IDENTIFY, as the men Thought, intending
TO go aboard. Thoroughly terrified at
its appearance they pulled off, but the
long AIMS continued to fly around
them and one seized the leg of one of
the men. They cut this arm off with
an AK and drove their harpoon into the
body and finally escaped. This report
was telegraphed to st. Johns and was
discredited. \ few weeks batter, how
ever, during a heavy gale OF wind
squid went ashore. 1t was first
seen in the breakers bv sor1e
men where, like ship on lee
at shore, it lay clinging by its
long teutacles to IA rock and
swinging as if at anchor. The waves
finS lily broke it away, and it went roll
ing in upon The sands, most impress
sive spectacle with its enormous black
eyes as large as dinner plates, its fying
arms and general extraordinary rp-
pearace.
The men waded toward it as near as
discretion permitted, and, striking it
with harpoon, fastened the line to
tree, and as the tide went out it was left
high and dry and in an almost perfect
condition. 1t was soon after exam
ined by the writer. and was creature
that when alive was well calculated to
terrify anyone. Its enormous arms the
lines of cup-lille suckers with serrated
edges, the black, staring eyes, the
black bealls, were all features that
might have constituted the makeup of
some creature of the imagination. -
San Francisco Chronicle