The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-06-24

Piccott. with his boy Tom. lad Of twelve
know what it means 10 fight one Of these
sea demons. too.
They were codhshing in skin of Por-
tugal Cove, near StsJohn's- They saw
what they thought was wreckage. and
they pulled close by. Sluires gated the
mass and started to pull it inboard, when
to his horror. he saw il was live devil
fish. IN q twinkling OF an eye the great
thing had the entire boat encircled in its
squirming eyes. Another moment and it
was drawing the skin down beneath The
surface till the water poured in over the
sides
Piccott seized an arm OF the monster
in his despair
It let go the boat and twined about his
body. The boat righted, but it seemed
all up with Pickett But little Tom. his
boy. caught up an axe from the bottom
and with one clean blow cut or the ten
tacle which held his father Another
squirting tentacle Instantly whipped up
out OF the water and EMBODIED the skin
just as Piccott sank exhausted 10 the
thwarts. Again the boy rushed TO the
rescue and chopped on the second arm
The deyil-fish, crazy with pain. half
leaped out OF the water Its horny beak
pounded az the gunwales. Weakened
with the loss OF two OF its strongest arms.
stil came back 10 the attack. The hide
Gus body half dragged itself out OF The
water. It all but clambered into the boat,
minus two Of its giant feelers
IL shot its loathsome ink at the men.
1t Kissed over the side in fury. But the
boys axe and Squire's knife finally gave
it quietus. Letting go. the devI-fish
dropped back into the depths beaten when
it had almost won the victory.
The three were almost done for when
they reached shore. Great welts where
the fish had thrown its tentacles about
them were raised on the bodies OF al
three. They were bruised and beaten
black and blue.
Next day the dead devil-fsh doated
ashore at Bauling. minus the arms which
the Piccott boy had severed with his
Harvey. a Presbyterian minister. famed
In these parts for his scientific knowledge
He had it photographed, silctched and
measured.
According 10 the clergyman. the devil
sh weighed 1.200 pounds In color il was
grayish white. like the color Of dirty
chalk. It had a round. barrel-Iike body.
with triangular I'm or tail. and a head
like an enlarged parrots. with beak II
horn and beady eyes. Five tentacles.
one lage and four small, stretched from
HR NH a f7.7l d,
double row of suckers on the underside.
The longer arms have about two hun
dred of them and the short ones one hun
dred
These suckers are about an inch in d.
ameter. Each has an outside lip OF hex-
ible membrane. with a serrated bony edge
inside. made up Of innumerable fine teeth
When the devil-hsh seizes upon an object
each lip presses against II. creates ?
vacuum, the teeth fasten themselves, and
nothing can get away until the tentacle
is severed or the devil fish dies.
Another popularity this monster posses
ses is that it can travel backward as cas-
lily as forward. II swims ahead like an
ordinary fish and goes astern like a
torpedo boat Its instrument OF propul-
sion is a funnel or tube behind the head
which acts in conjunction with its
breathing organism. The latter admits
sea water to the bo y by means Of two
valves worked by the muscular dilation Of
the creature. After the water has com
municated its oxygen 10 the blood OF the
octopus. It is expelled through the tube.
and by ejecting the water through this
tube 1t is able to move backward with
the greatest rapidity.
The tube acts somewhat as hydraulic
engine. and the tail serves as a rudler.
The ink sac also opens into this tube
and thereby the creature can discharge
its inky secretion 10 escape when in dan
ger Its long tentacles are designed 10
secure its prey when swimming at a
considerable distance away and 20 hold It
until the octopus can approach and en-
girdle it with the smaller but more pow
erfUl arms.