was at once evident that it was a massive fragment of cuttle-
fish--tentacle or arm--as thick as a stout man's body, and with
six or seven sucking-discs or ACETABULA on it. These were about
as large as a saucer, and on their inner edge were thickly set
with hooks or claws all round the rim, sharp as needles, and
almost the shape and size of a tiger's.

To what manner of awful monster this portion of limb belonged, I
could only faintly imagine; but of course I remembered, as any
sailor would, that from my earliest sea-going I had been told
that the cuttle-fish was the biggest in the sea, although I never
even began to think it might be true until now. I asked the mate
if he had ever seen such creatures as this piece belonged to
alive and kicking. He answered, languidly, "Wall, I guess so;
but I don't take any stock in fish, 'cept for provisions er
ile--en that's a fact." It will be readily believed that I
vividly recalled this conversation when, many years after, I read
an account by the Prince of Monaco of HIS discovery of a gigantic
squid, to which his naturalist gave the name of LEPIDOTEUTHIS
GRIMALDII! Truly the indifference and apathy manifested by
whalers generally to everything except commercial matters is
wonderful--hardly to be credited. However, this was a mighty
revelation to me. For the first time, it was possible to
understand that, contrary to the usual notion of a whale's being
unable to swallow a herring, here was a kind of whale that could
swallow--well, a block four or five feet square apparently; who
lived upon creatures as large as himself, if one might judge of
their bulk by the sample to hand; but being unable, from only
possessing teeth in one jaw, to masticate his food, was compelled
to tear it in sizable pieces, bolt it whole, and leave his