The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1894-05-08

ing each other IN rapid succession over tho
body.
The octopus is found on almost all coasts
whcrc rocky shors abound, but the Cali
fornia SPECIES is the largest II Is hunted
herr rs am article Of food and Is much rel
ishcl sy the poriuguc-c ON the Mcditcr-
,sncan &c Is oqually appreciated The octO-
pus has a bagliko body. fr0n which radiate
eight sucker lined arms-its feet Between
these = the mouth, armed with two boaks,
like those OF the parrot in shape and color,
which arr capable Of severing the backbone
Of fish at a single bite. The tongue Is
provided with teeth.
Tho animal crawls over the rocks by
hauling itself along with peculiar gallop-
ing motion and can pass through crcviccs
astonishingly small, so that IL often dis
appears I'm the most mysterious fashion.
Tho average cuttlciish variety seldom
leaves the bottom, though there Is a spc-
cies that has wcblike fins between the legs
and is able 20 swim To n limited extent
Almost every whaler who comes into
San Francisco will tell you that tho devil
fish constitutes the food Of the sperm
whale. and that great pieces Of IL arc found
in almost every whale caught. This Is not
the octopus but free swiIeming cousin,
the souid. equally uncanny and curious in
appearance and habits. Small squids have
b,en known from earliest times, the cut
tlcflsh bone Of commerce being the back
bone Of one species. But that these ami
mails that glidcd through the water like
phantoms ever attained gigantic proper
tions was first suggested by the whalcrs.
Bishop Pontoppidan Of Norway pub
lished "A natural history Of his country over
century ago and described cuttlcflsh that
could pull down a ship
The ordinary squid IS a graceful creature
from q inches TO foot in length, with a
barrel shaped body, terminating in n point
ed tail The head is connected with the
body by "A short neck and bears 10 feet Of
tentacles, eight Of which resemble those OF
the octopus, while the other two are longer
and have suckers at the ends only. The
owes are large. black and staring. The
mouth and bill are between the feet, and
below them is "a siphon through which the
squid elects water thus forcing itself
along The tentac.cs are also used In loco
motion. which is almost always backward.
This squid Is "a very harmless creature,
easily caught and killed, but when We in
crease the body length To 20 feet, the eight
tentaclcs TO as many more and give tho en-
tire animal "a length Of 80 or go feet We
pearancc The writer measured one OF
these big squids some years ago.
1t measured nbout IS feet, and its weight
in round numbers must have been ton
Reports Of these gigantic creatures had
come from various quarters up 70 20 year,
ago, but they were generally doubted anc
considered rs fish stories W But finally
"a French man of war saw one and put ont
boat and made fast to il with a harpOOn
II was 10 large and heavy that the captain
was afraid II would injure the men ant
boats and forbade pursuit.
soon after this report came from New
foundland that was followed up by tn
capture Of a monster cuttletish. A fisher
man in coming into the bay Of NOtre Damn
saw something floating in the water, an'
thinking 10 wreckagc rowed over 10 II
When alongside what proved To be
squid, il threw ont several long arms an'
seized the boat evidently, as the mel
thought intending TO go aboard. Thor
oughly terrified 40 its appearance, the.
pulled OF, but the long arms continued &