The record-union., 1897-03-19

ANIdheil duu Sed-SefpdHl question IOr
me. This terrific combat took place
under the the full glare of a tropical
moon, upon the surface of a perfectly
calm sea, within mile of the ship.
Every detail of the struggle was clearly
visible through a splendid glass, and is
indelibly craven upon my mind 1t was
indeed battle of giants-perhaps Ill
the more solemnly impressive from
| being Waged in perfect silence. The
contrast between the livid whiteness of
| the molluSks body and the massive
| blackneSS of the whale; the convulSive
writing of the tremendous arms, as.
| like a Medusa'S head magnified thou
sand times, they wound and gripped
about the columnar head of the great
| mammal, made picture unequaled i'll
all the animal world for intense interest
i The immense eyes, at least foot in
diameter, glared out of the dead white
of the head, inky black, appalling in
their fixture of gaze. Could we have seen
| more nearly, and in daylight, we should
also have found that the sea was turned
| from its normal blue into a dusky browE
| by the discharge of the great cephaio-
! pods reservoir of sepia which in such a
! creature must have been a tank of con-
siderable capacity. Each of those far
reaching arms were of course furnished
with innumerable acetabula or sucking
| disks, most of them foot in diameter,
| and, in addition to the adhering appara-
| tus, provided with a series of claws set
around the inner edges of the suckers,
large as those of a grizzly bear. Besides
| the eight arms there yyara the two tpfl-
tacula, double the length of the arms, or
over sixty feet long-in fact about the
length of the animals body, and quite
worthy of being taken for pair Of sea-
| serpents by themselves.
| But the whale apparently took no
heed of the titanic struggles of this
enormous mollusk. He was busy WELD
| ing his mighty jaws, not in mastication
but in tearing asunder the soft flesh
| into convenient Jumps for being swal-
| lowed. Ill around were numerous
| smaller whales or sharks, joining in
the plentiful feast, like jackals round a
| lion. Every fisherman worth his salt
knows well how all fish that swim in
the sea love the sapid flesh of the
cephalopcda, making it the finest bait
known, and in truth it is, and always
has been, a succulent dainty where
known for mankind as WELL But it is
| evident from the Scanty number of
| times the gigantic cuttlefish has been
| reported that his habitat is we'll be-
| meath the surface, yet not so far down
| but that he may be easily reached by
| the whale, and also find food for his
| own vast bulk. Probably they prey
upon one another. From what we
know Of the habits of these members
of the family who live in accessible
waters, it is evident that nothing comes
amiss to them in the way of fish or
flesh, dead or alive.
The Prince of Monaco, who is a dew
otee of marine natural history, was
fortunate enough to witness some bay
whalers at Terceira early this year
catching a sperm whale. He and his
scientific assistants were alike amazed
at seeing the contents of the whales
stomach elected before death, but their
amazement became hysterical delight
when they found that the ejecta con-
sisted Of portions of huge cuttlefish
as yet unknown to scientific classical
ton. The species was promptly named
after the Prince, Lepidoteuthis Grimal-
dill, and paper prepared and read be-
fore the Academic des Sciences at Paris
So profoundly impressed was the Prince
with what he had seen that he at once
| determined to convert his yacht into
| a whaler, in order to become better ac-
quainted with these wonderful crea-
| lures so long known to the obtuse and
careless whale fishers. One interesting
circumstance noted by the Prince was
| the number of circular impressions
made upon the tough and stubborn SUBJ
stance of the whales head, hard as
| hippopotamus hide, showing the ire
mendous power exerted by the mol
| lusk as we'll as his inability to do
! the whale any harm.
| But were l to describe in detail the
| numerous occasions upon which
have seen, not certainly the entire mol
lusk, but such enormous portions Of
their bodies as would justify estimating
them as fully as large as the whales
| feeding upon them, it would become
merely tedious repetition.
AS l write comes the news that an
! immense squid has just been found
stranded on the west coast of ireland,
having arms sixty feet in length, truly
a formidable monster-New York
/