The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-29


 pus, or devil fish. They were all caught by members of the party. "There is probably no animal" says Professor Verrill, about which the public has Q more mistaken impression than the devil fish. The average man probably gains his idea of this creature more rom Victor Hugo than from any other source The catastrophe of The Toil- CTS of the Sea has naturally surround ed the devil fish with mysterious hor- TOTS. for which, however, there is no scientific foundation It would be im- | possible to make any greater mistake than to imagine devil fish of the kind the great novelist has described As ! matter of fact, there is no such anil maj. Victor Hugo's octopus is myth. It exists no more than does the cen taur or the mermaid, or any other cre- ature of the fancy. What Hugo did was to esarch through his encyclo- pedia and to combine the descriptions of several different fish in one. He de- scribed the devil fish, for example, as without mouth whereas, as a mat ter of fact 1t has a mouth shaped like a parrots which it can use to very good effect. His devil fish was also without a stomach whereas every well organized devil fish Is provided with this very indispensable organ. He represented the tentacles of the devil fish as especially formidable; what he | really described were the tentacles of the seaanemone, which possess prick ing properties like needles. It would be a rather large and powerful octopus that man could not overcome. They are, perhaps, few specimens which might gain the better of man in
 hand-to-hand tussle, but any such combat as Victor Hugo describes is absolutely absurd.
 We had plenty of opportunities to learn this in our devil fishing in the Bermuda. The creatures are fond of ! coming to the shallow water in the | caverns that line the shore, and we used to wade In and tackle them single | handed. Nearly all the specimens that
 we landed and brought home were | about four feet across. We saw many larger ones, but did not attempt to catch them. The manner in which you catch them is to grab them in the I back of the head with your naked hand. Once securely caught in this way they are powerless. They can- not get in position to bite as long as they are held in this way, although | if you miss them they are rather apt | to take piece out of you. When att tackled they make a very lively fight, though when left, alone they are the mildest creatures in the world. They l wind their tentacles vigorously around the naked arms of a captor in their
 desire to get their jaws in a suitable position to bite, and the suckers cling tenaciously to the skin. Their tenta- cles however, are never formidable. Like all fish the octopus becomes tir- ed out in very short time. A man can get the best of them simply by ex- | hausting their strength. The men of our party regarded devil fishing as great sport. The largest obtained was
 about four feet across; others of still larger size were seen in deep water or in caverns where they could not be caught They are so numerous in many places that ducks and geese cannot be
 raised, for the octopus is very fond of poultry It also destroys large num- | bers of crabs and Bermuda Holsters. The latter differs from the American lobster in having no large claws.
 Tn all, over ten thousand specimens
 were obtained. It is expected that
 other expeditions from Yale will be made in future years There is now a | movement among several prominent
 residents of Bermuda and scientific men of this country to establish at l Bermuda a permanent geological sta l tion, with conveniences for scientific
 work, so that scientific parties going
 there for study may be able to find suitable laboratories, books, boats, aquaria, dredges. etc., convenient for their use, while the public will have an l opportunity of seeing many of the more interesting forms of life in that | portion of the building devoted to large aquaria. The purity of the water and uniformity of temperature during the whole year are conditions exceedingly l favorable for the success of aquaria. | With such an establishment available it is believed that it might be possible to introduce and naturalize in Ber-
 muda the precious red coral and the
 more choice varieties of sponges from the Mediterranean and West Indies." l Professor Verrill adds that he knows l VI Ilp AllciC pittCC lOl ci otttIlOI l of this kind than the Bermuda Islands. l Tropical forms of life are easily ob- | tainable on the coral reefs of Bermuda, l and the climatic conditions are ex- 1 tremely favorable to the work of scien-
 tific men. The water about the island l is so transparent that the bottom can | easily be seen at depth of thirty or
 forty feet, when by the use of a water | glass shells and other objects can be
 distinguished in twenty feet of water.
 In the various bays and harbors, some
 of which are quite land-locked, the deeper parts have bottom of white
 shell sand, while in the shallower parts | there are numerous coral reefs, often rising nearly to the surface and ap- bearing by contrast very dark in col
 or. Add to this the fact that there is
 no place where sea animals can be | found in greater abundance and with | greater ease Professor Verrill believes l that the Bermuda Islands form one of
 the most fruitful fields for the investi- 1 gation of zoologists.
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