Evening star., 1901-07-20

spread of about thirty feet. that is. the
arms. eight in number. are about fifteen
feet long. Such an animal has a body a
little larger than mans head, small
mouth with parrot-like bills, ten long suck
er-iined arms. connected at their bases by
a web-like integument with which they
swim when the animals SO desire: but the
usual method of swimming is to vigorously
pump the siphOn, by which they dart
through the water with great rapidity. the
sepia trailing behind, filling the water with
ink On the Florida reef devil fish are
very common. and my first experience with
them was decidedly unpleasant I was
reaching beneath a bunch of coral search
ing for a variety of cypraea. a shell COM
mon there, when L felt my hand grasped.
as though snakes had coiled about it.
There was no pain beyond a smartiug SEN
sation when the suckers set into the flesh.
and had 1 allowed my hand to remain quiet
the animal would undoubtedly, have re-
leased me; but startled, / rose up, tearing
the coral branch from its roots and a large
octopus from it's ENHANCEMENT, which clung
to me like a leech.
Studying Devil Fishes.
There Is the greatest difference In indl-
viduals. On the Pacific coast 1 kept q
number of large specimens in a tank with
a view Of tanning them. and but one was
amenable to treatment. After several
tween the eyes. but the others were de-
moniac In looks and appearance. and to
plunge my hand into the squirming, men,
acing mass required more persistence and
pretended Indifference than anything I
ever attempted. The devil fishes were of
all sizes. some Of the largest having tenta-
cies two feet in length and all colors: and
when l approached the tank waves Of
color would flash over them the fierce
stony eyes would blaze with green and fiery
tints. and a trembling motion would be
seen. which meant that these orgons of
the sea were preparing to pounce Upon me-
One large individual was particularly ag-
sressire. 1t was a notified black and
white creatures, living thunder cloud, i'm
placahle. reSenting to the last any attempt
at familiarity. When introduced my hand
and arm into the tank dozens of livid arms
would dash up like flames from the rocky
creyices and every siphon would be di-
rected at it. but none of the octopi with
the single exception, would attack me until
| made the initial move This individual
stood not upon the order of going. but
with eyes cleaning a baneful hue every
muscle pu1sating. 1t would fling itself across
the tank and seize my hand. encompassins
it with a horrible smothering suggestion
then rapidly fasten upon the rocks and en-
deavor to pull it down. When the animal
secured it's hold it was with difficulty that
l released it; but when I allowed it to re-
tain its supposed Prey. in no instance did
was always struggle to release it, but
beyond few scratches / escaped.
Catching the Octopus.
On the Florida reef, on the extreme outer
keys-Bird, Long, Sand and Loggerhead-
but little frequented. the floral beds abound
in good-sized devil fishes, and one of the
sports of the locality at one time was to
take them with spear. The boatmen would
hook on to branch of coral, and with a
sudden jerk uproot 1t. turning it over, when
Its inhabitants-devii fishes and others
would go sprawlng away. The strength
exhlpited by these animals when struck
was remarkable; frequently in hauling one
In 1t would Seize bunch of coral and bring
twenty or more pounds to the surface and
when placed in the boat display every evil
dence OF rage. its green eyes showing a
iambent light of various shades and colOrs
following one another in quick succession
over its body-truly a frightfuI object Oc-
casionally stories are heard regarding the
ferocity of these animals, but they should
De taken cum grano sails. only on rare
occasions Will an octopus attack a man.
and then l believe 1T is on the supposition
that the animal is cornered. In Yale Col
lege Is the cast of an Alaskan octopus
nearly thirty feet across. Such an animal
could drown several men if it were so dis
posed The story is told of a native wo-
man found in the coils of such a monster
doubtless an accident, as by nature the
animal Is tfmid. but when attacked the
devil fish defends itself with courage and
vigOr.
A friend in wading over the keIp-lfned
rocks of San Pedro said that a large oc-
topus. caught by the tide in one OF the
pools. came to the attack following sew
erai children. lifting It's arms high out of
the swallow water as it moved along
nsherman on the Farallones hooked what
ne supposed to be a large fish, but when
II reached the surface the arms of a huge
octopus seized the boat and were cut away
with difficulty. l was informed by a gen
tieman living near Monterey CAL that
very large devil fish are found there One
specimen, with radial spread of nearly
thlrty feet, made a savage fight, ten or
more men being engaged in it before the
monster was laid low and firmly fastened
TO stake Before it's capture this animal
lived in a deep pool in the rocks covered
with keip- one day my informant was cross
ing this, leaping from rock to rock. when
reaching for his legs and Just missing
them 1t was believed that such an ami,
NAL could have seized and held a child
without difficulty.
From a concealment In the rocks I have
watched the devil fish feed on the south
ern California coast. They would come in
with the tide. poising like cats, Just at
the waters edge. Stimulating the bottom SO
closely that they could hardly be distin-
guished. Their prey was a crab which
lived above water or just at the surface.
and l repeatedly saw the devil fishes poise.
tnen dart a foot or so out of water in pur-
suit of them. and when a victim was Sc
cured, throwing themselves over II like a