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Show 180 MR. W. S. KENT ON A GIGANTIC CEPHALOPOD. [Mar. 3, thidse, which, when living, must have possessed two additional ten-tacula, in all probability at least twice the length of the preserved member. That this last-named specimen again is only one of the shorter arms, is made evident by the disposition of the suckers in two rows throughout its length ; and the information now supplied by Mr. Harvey establishes, in a most gratifying manner, the correctness of the conclusions already drawn concerning it. Both these arms, indeed, now under discussion must have appertained to a body of the most closely approximating proportions, and belong probably to one and the same species. The shorter member in the British Museum has evidently been detached close to its base ; but at the same time it is reasonable to infer that prior to its exposure to the contracting influences of the spirit, wherein it is now immersed, it measured some two or three additional feet; these added, give a length of precisely half the longer tentacle in the St. John's Museum when perfect, which proportionate dimensions were estimated, while yet unproved, in the reference already given. Although it does not appear that the body of any Cephalopod possessing arms and tentacles of such huge dimensions as the foregoing has up to the present time been secured for scientific examination and identification, there is yet abundant evidence that such exist. Several well authenticated accounts of these are contained in Gwyn Jeffreys's ' British Conchology,' article Cephalopoda, vol. v. p. 124. One example, stranded on the west coast of Shetland, is reported to have had tentacles measuring 16 feet long, arms of half that length, and a mantle-sac 7 feet long terminated with fins. A sucker of this specimen, the only part preserved, examined by Prof. Allman, was f of an inch in diameter. Among several monsters cast up on the Danish coast, chronicled by Prof. Steenstrup, one is said to have possessed a body measuring 21 feet, and tentacles 18, or a total length of 39 feet. This specimen is referred by its chronicler to a species of Architeuthis, his A. dux, two allied forms receiving from the same authority the provisional title of Architeuthis monachus. Unfortunately, however, no portions of these animals, sufficient for establishing a scientific diagnosis, or for the purposes of positive reidentification, appear to have been preserved. The following reliable account, which has already appeared in many recent natural-history treatises, m a y be accepted as additional testimony in proof of the existence of true ocean monsters: - O n the 30th of November, 1861, about 20 miles to the north-east of Tene-riffe, the French dispatch-boat 'Alecton,' Captain Bouyer, encountered a huge Cephalopod floating, apparently exhausted, on the surface of the water. The endeavour was immediately made to effect its capture, shots being fired at and harpoons plunged into it without any result, the latter being unable to take any hold in its soft yielding flesh. In the end a running noose was successfully cast over the creature's tail; but on endeavouring to haul it on board, the rope cut through the animal's body, completely severing the tail-piece, which was drawn on deck, the remaining portion at the same time slowly sinking away from view in the depths of the ocean. This |