Evening star., 1900-08-11
AN OCTOPUS IN CAPTIVITY.
Not the BfgEest That Ever Was. hut
still fs Interestfng.

| From the New York Sun.
| The Aquarium has an octopus II came ON
| Friday the steamer Trinidad from B.r
muda along with the Aquariums second
| Importation Cor the season of bright-color,,I
| tropical fishes from Bermuda waters From
| tip to tip of Its extended arms across i.s
/ body this octopus measures about three
| Feet pigmy as compared with the giant
| creatures seen in the pictures. thrashIng
| their arms about or dragging down their
prey; but big enough and ugly enough %
be a decidedly unpleasant object
The Aquarium has had two other speci-
mems of the octopus. including one that was
| larger than that just received. but neither
was in other respects good specimen
one OF them in fact was never exhibited:
" died In the reserve tank in which Il h.id
| been placed to recuperate after it's VOYAGE
! hlther. The octopus stands transportation
| but poorly, and is delicate in captivity. The
other was exhibited. but lived only a short
| time, and its respiration was so feeble IL
scarcely 10 be diScernible through th.
! movement of its body. 1t lay upon the bot
tom of the tank an inert mass. This one
Is in very good condition and its body can
be seen 10 expand and contract as it opens
and closes its gils in breathing.
As 1t lies on the bottom the octopus sus-
gests at once the idea of a great spid r
When quiet it carries its long arms eacn
curled up in a coil by itself, close to the
body, and these are then not at all like a
spiders legs. but its head and its bulbous
body are In appearance spidery. Its skin
looks somewhat like soft, wrinkled leather
In color the octopus is commonly OF a
dingy white. but like many other creatures
ol the sea II changes color greatly and
easily and quickly. 1t changes. for instance
to sort of brindled rusty red effect
mottled or with broad stripes of that tint
shading lighter at the edges and set Close
together. Sometimes il gets darker stin
and the stripes become a sort of maroon
color.
On the under side of each of its arms the
octopus has scores OF sucking disks. scat
tered along from its body to the tip of the
arm these disks varying in size. being larg-
est near the body and decreasing TO little
ores at the end of the tapering arm; by
means of these 1t could hold to and draw
itself along upon anything that IL could
not get Its arms around: aS, for instance,
II could readily crawl up the side of the
tank in which 1t now is at the Aquarium,
and If II were not prevented, raise the wire
screen that rests upon the top of the tank
and get out. To guard against that planks
are laid across each end of the screen
cover and are weighted down with a heavy
stone. The octopus was brought here in n
woven wire cylinder, closed al both ends
with the same material, and immersed in
cask of salt water. Thus the octopus
was kept in Its natural element and at the
same time kept from crawling out Of the
caSk
As seen here in its tank lying quIescent,
with its arms curled up chose to its sides
and its body pulsing with its breathing. or.
perhaps with one or two of its arms, at
tached by their sucking disks. stretching
up like vines against wall of the tank.
while on the other side of its body II waves
one or two Of its arms slowly about in the
water. this little octopus is certainly not
agreeable to the eye, but It Is. neverthe-
less, an object Of decided interest.