The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-07-04

Is it the original OF the so'cailed
sea serpent7 Nobody can say with
certainty. But Prof. Vcrrill, the emf
nent naturalist of Yale university, has
declared that when alive it was ua-
doubtedly the largest animal known to
exist in modern times. Thrown up on
the beach not far from ST Augustine
Fla. the other day, it WIS dead when
found. In fact, it had evidently been
dead for quite while, and had been
so knocked about by storms that moth
trunk of its body. the internal organs
and even the skin having disappeared
But the tough muscular ''hull - cast up
by the waves was twenty one feet lon;!
and five feet in diameter. It weighed
six tons. The ''hull - in question was
easily recognizable RS the body of a
gigantic octopus though the tentacles
of the creature had vanished, But these
tentacles. Of which there had been
eight, must have been fully 100 feet
long. according TO Prof. Nerrlll $ reck'
oning-the animal having thus a
"spread of more than 200 fecti
A fragment of the remains of the
huge mollusl is now on exhibition At
the Smithsonian Institution in Wash
ington, When it was thrown mp on the
beach, il so happened, by lucky chance
that a scientific man. Dr. Witt Webb:
had an opportunity TO examine and
study it, Thus it. came about that cX-
act measurements were taken, and por'
tions of the creature s anatomy pre-
served II was Dr.. Webb who sup
piled the fragment that is now in the
Smithsonian Institution.
Octopus Giganteus is the name be
slowed hy Prof Nerril upon the mighty
cepbalopod. He says that presumably il
was a dweller in the depths of tho
ocean-where. doubtless, there are plen-
ty more like il. Bat the creatures
which inhabit the marine abysses pre-
fer. as q rule. TO sechdc themselves
thcrein--for which reason it is that
scientists say that they would not be
astonished by anything that came out
of the ocean, even though II were an
animal corresponding in all respects tc
the much-;alkcd-o of sea serpent.
1t is known that IN the depths ot
The sea there arc vast numbers of cepha
lopods, many Of them Of great size
which are the fayorite prey of sperm
whales in fact. they form the prnci
pal diet of those mighty carrivorous
cetaceans, in whose stomachs are often
found the arms. or tentaclcs, of gigan
tic "poulps. Up 10 the present time
however, no cephalopod anywhere ap
preaching in size the octopus above dc
scribed has been known.
The tentaclcs Of such monster. cacl
OF them 100 feet long, might well bC
mistaken for huge serpeuts Accepting
Prof. Verrill's figures, il IS obriou!
that no other animal with which W.
have any acquaintance is comparable tC
it in dimensions. One can imagine 1T
during its lifetime, half hidden in some
''dark. unfathomed cave Of ocean,,
gripping rock with two or three ot
its mighty tentacles and extending tho
others like immense fcclcrs through thu
water III various directions. seeking tx
grasp in fatal embrace any prey tha
might approach.
An octopus has eight tentaclcs OF
equal length radiIting from its centra
mass, each Of them armed with some
hundreds of powerful suckers, These
suckers operate like vacuum caps, so n:
10 take q tremendous grip when stimuli
taneously the mir is removed from then
at the will Of the animal. Thus i
comes about that when such a "devil
fish, of large size attacks a man, tn,
latter has small chance 10 escape, un
less by good luck lie is armed with {
knife. and can use it quickly. Other
wise he is drawn into a close hug b.
the poulp, 10 be torn TO pieces by it.
parrot-like beak and. absorbed