Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-03-15
DIVING FOR DENIL-FISH.

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Philadelphia Times: A curious and ex-
citing sport mas recently been introduced
by Clarence Verri!l, a Yale student. 1t IS
diving for devil fish, and a dozen splendid
specimens of the octopus, or devil fish,
which Mr.. Verrill has just presented to
the museum of Yale University are the
results of his novel fishing trip recently
in the Bermudas. These huge sea spiders
measure from four to five feet from tip
to tip and they are of a grayish color.
They were black and larger when Mr.
! Verrill caught them, but they shrink and
change color out of water.
The devil fish of the West Indies are sell
dom found larger than five feet from tip
to tip, but the natives tell of some very
large ones that measure eight feet across.
The negroes of Bermuda, Mr.. Nerrill
says, regard the octopus with great dread
and will not go near him. They would
not think OF touching one, ever after he
had been caught and was quite dead and
harmless in a big bottle of alcohol. They
call him the "scuttle," and are extremely
careful to keep out of waters that he fire.
quents. To break up a native bathing
party it is only necessary to say "scut-
tle' and they will come scampering to
shore. ~
The horror that the devil fish inspires
makes Mr.. Nerrills way of catching him
all the more interesting, for he goes out
in his boat, waits until he spies the long,
wriggling arms of an octopus below him,
jumps overheard, grabs the devil of the
deep in his arms and brings him in tri-
umph to the surface. This is excitement
fer you, and Victor Hugo turned upside
down, for it is in Hugo's "Toilers of the
Sea- that the terrible octopus SEXES men
and bears them off as a hawk would a
chicken.
This octopus was a product of the great
French writer's imagination, and no Oc-
topus known to modern science has ever
lone anything of the kind. Neither do
devil fish suck the blood Of their victims,
as tradition tells us. Their tentacles, as
scientists have long since afilrmed and
Mr.. Verrill knows from repeated expert
ences, are used only to grasp objects with
and each is provided with numerous
suckers that act like the bit of leather on
a string that boys fasten to the sidewalk.
The mouth of the devil fish is under its
body, and it is armed with a powerful
beak, which is the most formidable Weap-
on of olfense that this satanic fish pos
sesses.
Nevertheless, to catch a devil fish in
this way requires not only nerve and dar-
ing. but considerable strength and skill
as a swimmer. To dive twenty or thirty
feet after one of these ugly creatures-the
/ u2llpSl InlIS Ol lS SiLE IiioI aliu
struggle with the bare hands against it
in its natural element is a feat consider
ably out of the ordinary. One must Dig
strlight for the body and endeaVOr TO
grab it from the top. More often than not
the creature Will see you coming through
the water and dodge by padding away
with it's Ions arms. When the dive is
made from behind Mr.. Devil fish, out of
the range of his piercing, bulging eyes,
the chances are good for catching him.
Put you must grasp him firmly with
your hands at his throat near his beak
otherwise he may slip away. as he will
try to do at first, or possibly he will strike
a dangerous blow with his strong beak,
like a birds. which he viii try to use as
soon as he finds that he is caught. To dc
this he tries to turn over and grasp his
opponent with his long, sucking arms to
give him courage. If the divers grip is
good it is now only a question Of rising
to the surface and getting into the boat
with the poor sea devil. This is not a
difficult matter, for, while the struggles
of the victim are fierce, he soon tires and
even the suction of his tentacles can be
readily overcome.
Everybody that has read about devil
fish knows of the black fluid that they
eject when they want to escape. If the
divers grip is at the right place he can
choke the octopus and prevent the exit OF
the inky substance. But its inkwell can
not save it in this battle, and neither car
the slippery arms that wind about its
antagonist and produce an unpleasant
and occasionally painful sensation on his
sensitive skin. The devil fish can dc
nothing but cling with its tentacles. They
are it's means of grasping food. The way
to be freed of the tentacles is by taking
them at the extremity and peeling then
off, but this can only be done after the
devil fish is in the boat. The mans fght
under water is confined to holding OF