. Animals in action; studies and stories of beasts, birds and reptiles; their habits, their homes and their peculiarities . urement their bodies werefound to be from fifteen to eighteen feet long, and the reach oftheir powerful tentacles was thirty feet. It goes without sayingthat such monsters could prove very dangerous to fishing giants, however, are seldom met with, though smallerspecimens are found in large numbers in the of them are caught by boys on the Riveria. The commonoctopus belongs to the order of the Cephalopoda. It has a sack-like, rounded body wit
. Animals in action; studies and stories of beasts, birds and reptiles; their habits, their homes and their peculiarities . urement their bodies werefound to be from fifteen to eighteen feet long, and the reach oftheir powerful tentacles was thirty feet. It goes without sayingthat such monsters could prove very dangerous to fishing giants, however, are seldom met with, though smallerspecimens are found in large numbers in the of them are caught by boys on the Riveria. The commonoctopus belongs to the order of the Cephalopoda. It has a sack-like, rounded body with eight tentacles covered on the insidewith suckers. The eyes are enormously large, dark, and phos-phorescent, shedding an uncanny light when the animal is inanger. On one side of the head there is a tubelike organwhich the animal uses as a means of propulsion, by admittingwater into it and then violently ejecting it. Thus the creatureadvances through the water at a high rate of speed, hind partfirst. When alarmed the octopus discharges through its funnelan inklike fluid, the so-called sepia. This liquid surrounds the. The Octopus and the Lobster. THE OCTOPUS AND THE LOBSTER. 241 creature like a cloud, concealing it from its pursuers. The ani-mal breathes through gills Hke an ordinary fish. The octopus isa voracious feeder, and devours large quantities of fish, crabs,snails, and mussels ; in fact, he seems to have a special appetite forevery living creature which he can overpower. He watches forhis prey in shallow waters, lying motionless between the such times he has a whitish gray color, similar to that ofhis surroundings. As soon as his prey appears, the watcherthrows himself with incredible swiftness upon it, throws hisarms about it, and fastens his suckers deep into its body. Dur-ing the heat of the battle his color changes visibly from brownand red to yellow, the long arms shoot hither and thither Hkesnakes, loosening themselves at one place only to refasten with
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidanimalsinact, bookyear1901
