Evening star., 1900-08-18
STORIES OF CUTTLEFlSH
ONE OCTOPUS WITH TENTACLEs
TWENTY-FIVE FEET LONG.
Another One Whose Arm Measured
|. Forty-Five Feet In Length--Some
Hairbreadth Escapes.
From the Contemporary Review.

From the Contemporary Review
On the coasts of Cornwall the largest
forms are readily caught on the fisher
mans hook, and an objectionable compan-
fonship is sometimes the result This was
the case recently near Mevagissey. On a
dark autumn night, in a small boat, Samuel
Kelly was fishing on the high rocks OF the
Griffin Headland. when one of these devil
fish took his bait, and with the usual ef
fort was hauled on board. But his diff
Guilty was to get the hook to continue his
work. for he had been successful in catch
Ing several pollock and conger, and the
moment he touched the brute some of its
clammy tentacles would embrace his arm.
holding him to the spot. for its other arms
were fastened around the thwart soon the
beast became so violent that 1t really made
him fear it. He made a supreme effort to
get his hook, but the creature fastened its
largest suckers on the back Of his right
hand. and in the battle he had to drop
his line and with the nails Of his left hand
to dig the suckers out of his flesh, for they
seemed to bury themselves there. After
this experience there was doubt in
decision in the fight. for seizing a sharp
knife he quickly cut the hook from its
hold. upon which the cutie crept away
to another part Of the boat But this did
not finish Mr. kelly's night work, for on
again throwing out his line he had still
heavier haul, and when 1t came to the
waterlne he could not get II an inch
further. although he used all his strength
Tor the line was new and stronger than he
could break.
In this dilemma he had to hold on tight
and on looking over the side by the aid
of fiickertng light he found himself glar-
Ing into the eyes of another devilish. and
a much larger one than the first. He
further found that the creature had taken
the boat for its enemy, and was attacking
1t with all Its force. its tentacles embrac-
10 hln han
forward to near the middle section on the
other.
On thinking over his recent troubles with
Its neighbor, and the waste Of time likely
to ensue in a still longer encounter with
stronger brute, he decided not to risk
another fight. but to use the advantage of
us violent onslaught on the boat. Taking
his knife and watching his opportunity he
hnaily cut the hook out of the intruder
which on being liberated, soon dropped out
Of sight.
kellys statements. The arms of the dead
octopus In the boat stretched over seven
feet, and on the back of Mr. Kelly's hand
was a very black round bruise about half
an inch In diameter corresponding with the
inner circle Of one of the largest suckers
OF the dead octopus. Since then he has
caught several of these cuttles and one
whose arms stretched over six feet and
| half In our waters none Of these head
footed mollusks have been known to take
human life, but 1t is scarcely question
apie' IL ldVOrdDle opportunities presented
| themselves, that they would do So In
| 1879 one of the attendants of the Scarbo-
rousn Aquarium was attacked by only a
| small octopus when cleaning out tank
| The experience might have ended fatally
| had he been in the sea with a food tide As
| 1t was he had to make his exit leaving
his boot (by which the creature held him
| fasO behind him. But there have been oc-
| casions in other seas when the worst has
| happened, and men have been caught in the
Shiny folds of gigantic cuttIes. which have
held them on or dragged them to destruc-
| ton Sir Grenville Temple tells us how a
Sardinian captain, while bathing at Jerbeh
was seized and drowned by an octopus his
| limbs being found bound by the arms Of the
animal, although only in four feet Of water
while Captain j. NJ. Dens. a French nayi-
| gator OF repute. states that when off the
! coasts of Africa three Of his men were
! scrapfng the sides of his ship on a fine day
| when they were attacked by one of these
| violent creatures. which drew two of them
away underwater in spite of every effort
was rescued, died during the night In the
| fight one of the creatures arms was cut off,
twenty-five feet in length, and with suck
| ers on it as large as pot lids
Should there still remain particle of
doubt in any mind respecting the existence
| of gigantic cuttles, this will be dispelled
| by the following fact recorded by the Rev.
| NJ. Harvey of st. Johns. N F.: On October
! 26. 1873. two fishermen were out in boat
near the eastern end Of Conception bay
| Observing a floating object on the water
| lney ToWeu toward 1t ana struck II, on
| which it Immediately shot out two vast
| tentacles around the boat, as IL wrestling
with an antagonist Fortunately they had
a hatchet on board with which they cut
them from the creature. which. after
| blackening the sea with its ink soon made
| off. One of these magnificent fragments
| was measured by Alexander Murray geolo-
gist and Prof Verrill Of Yale College Com
necticut, who found 1t to be seventeen feet
| long and three and a half feet in circumfer-
ence: This fragment is now preserved In
st Johns College, Newfoundland. Since
| then scientists have further considered the
subject, and concluded that this beast with
| its tentacles could not have been less than
| forty-four feet long.
Reverting to the British octopus, I NAV
further state that its mimicry is very great
The cofors it uses run through deep choco-
| late, duh red, brown and gray, and 1t has
| the power of so arranging these hues that
| in the shade and cover of the dark rocks is
| almost unseen by any eye, which facili-
| tates Its easily worrying a stranger
pouncing upon its food hiding from its
| enemies. Its change from one color to an
| other Is almost instantaneous, and the body
can be mottled with the whole of these
| tints just quickly.
| 1 once saw a tank cut In She rocks on the
| open coast near low water and covered
| with many folds of iron netting, in which
| were kept twenty of these cuttles. Around
the sides and bottom grew the dark olive
laminarian seaweeds. and on the rocks un-
der them clung a stunted reddish brown
flexible coral; this they always rested on
and initiated, and were always of a reddish
brown hIe. They lived in seeming har-
mony. and when violent storm broke in
the cover they did not care to leave it,
but remained there for some weeks after
! Their walking power Is also considerah.e e,
and on the sea bottom no doubt they often
approach the object of their attack in this
manner, accommodating themselves to tho
various colors surrounding them as they
near the quarry.
BAD-TEMPERED RACING HORSES.
Annoying Tricks of the Wicked Lud-
wig and the EiciOua Don