construction, they
appear fitted only to grope among the rocks at the bottom of the ocean.
Their mode of progression is backward, by the forcible ejection of a
jet of water from an orifice in the neck, beside the rectum or cloaca.
Consequently their normal position is head-downward, and with tentacles
spread out like the ribs of an umbrella--eight of them at least; the
two long ones, like the antennae of an insect, rove unceasingly around,
seeking prey.

The imagination can hardly picture a more terrible object than one
of these huge monsters brooding in the ocean depths, the gloom of his
surroundings increased by the inky fluid (sepia) which he secretes in
copious quantities, every cup-shaped disc, of the hundreds with which
the restless tentacles are furnished, ready at the slightest touch to
grip whatever is near, not only by suction, but by the great claws
set all round within its circle. And in the centre of this net-work of
living traps is the chasm-like mouth, with its enormous parrot-beak,
ready to rend piecemeal whatever is held by the tentaculae. The very
thought of it makes one's flesh crawl. Well did Michelet term them "the
insatiable nightmares of the sea."

Yet, but for them, how would such great creatures as the sperm whale be
fed? Unable, from their bulk, to capture small fish except by accident,
and, by the absence of a sieve of baleen, precluded from subsisting upon
the tiny crustacea, which support the MYSTICETAE, the cachalots seem
to be confined for their diet to cuttle-fish, and, from their point of
view, the bigger the latter are the better. How big they may become in
the depths of the sea, no man knoweth; but it is unlikely that even the
vast specimens seen are full-sized, since they have only come to the
surface under abnormal conditions, like the one I have attempted to
describe, who had evidently been dragged up by his relentless foe.

Creatures like these, who inhabit deep waters, and do not need to come
to the surface by the exigencies of their existence, necessarily present
many obstacles to accurate investigation of their structure and habits;
but, from the few specimens that have been obtained of late years,
fairly comprehensive details have been compiled, and may be studied in
various French and German works, of which the Natural History Museum at
South Kensington possesses copies. These, through the courtesy of the
authorities in charge, are easily accessible to students who wish to