Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-11-04

| long attenuated tentacle and coil
about 1t; then il an advance was made
1t would suddenly release its hold upon
the rock and quickly encompass my
hand with its eight arms, pressing the
round serrated disks into the flesh
| while a tremulouS motion would be
| felt.
| At the frs. attack of this kind the
sensation was one of horror. The hid
| eous creature iattened out. assimilat-
| ing the color of the flesh to a marked
| degree and evidently endeavoring to
| Smother the and with its folds. as the
tectaclCs were distended to their ut
most limit Tc hold the hand firm
| under such circumstances required
some effort. AMI confess when il was
first attempted. with a Florida speci-
rien. beat q rapid aud decided re-
treat: but in the latter case | waited
tc seq If the animals object was to
bite. moving that the bill of SO small
snecil.pn could not make Il serious
wound. But the octopus merely pressed
its mouth on the back of my hand, ap-
parpntly trying to intiInidate the sup
posed enemy. While fastened TO the
hand. 1t still heid to the rock. and il
was with difficulty released. When ]
reruailed quiet the animal began to
creep along Ike a huge spider. but at
the first movement of my fingers ii
pojinced upon my hand again, enveiop-
ing il Iii the eight snakelike arms. j
finally twisted out of its grasp and
seized ii firmly ny the body, when its
rage became intense. Fiushes Of color |
passed over it in rapid succession; now
red, black. yellow and when at the
height of its anger it was mottled and
splashed with black-a frightful crea-
ture. 1t made desperate effort to es-
cape, but when released elected cloud |
of ink, darting off rapidly under its cov-
er. This octopus resented any intrusion |
and advanced to the attack at once. |
When strange octopus was placed in |
the tank, although much larger, it came |
out of its corner without hesitation, |
eyed the newcomer a moment, then in |
some incomprehensible way hurled it. |
self at the enemy. and in a second the |
two were rolling over and over in a
contest that was amazing to witness.
The 16 tentacies wound about each
other with the rapidity of light, and
both animals elected the inky fluid
from their siphons. They resembled
a ball Of snakes rolling along and
striking at each other more than any
thing else. A close examination of the
writhing mass showed that the object
apparently was to smother the oppo-
nent. Finally. the newcomer beat a
retreat; it was badly wounded and sue
cumbed few hours later
The octopus is a fayorite subject
with popular writer's on natural his
tory. and many accounts have been
written Of its ferocity, which are al
most invariably denied by nnturalists;
yet am inclined to think that In some
instances certain individuals are more
or less pugnacious. have handled
scores of them from the gulf of MexI-
co and California and observed only
one instance--the one cited-where the
animal deliberately rushed to the at
tack. though | know of two others.
One was observed by Mr. Ralph Ar
mold, geologist of Pasadena. He was
wading among the pools at low tide
at Point San Pedro when suddenly he
heard cry, and. turning, saw some
children in pool. wading, and moving
toward them large octopus, its long
arms raised above the water. Whether
the animal would have attempted to
attack them is question. as it was
interrupted in a more or less violent
manner. 4 resident of Washington
told me that once when visiting the
shore he was advised by the fisherman
with him to avoid the pools and when
1t became necessary to cross them to
pass over rs quickly as possible, as
large cctopi frequented them. He con-
sidered this the exaggeration of a fish
erman and paid but little attention to
it; but once in crossing pool. stepping
from stone to stone, suddenly a long
livid arm shot out of the water and
reached insinuatingly for his legs, the
entire animal moving rapidly toward
him. He, however, reached the rocks
safely and bombarded the animal with
stones. He estimated it's size at %
feet across. judging the tentacles to
have been 12 feet in length. Again, 1t
cannot be determined from this wheth.
er the animal would have seized him,
though the observer was confident that
it would and that it was large enough
to have held him under water had he
been pulled in.-C. f. Holder in Scien.
tiflc American