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 in letters received by me. Moreover, Mr. Wilson who visited it, when first found, claimed to have found a portion of an attached arm, 36 feet long, buried in the sand. This last statement, in the light of later investigations, must have been erroneous and was entirely misleading. At that time, however, it seemed quite consistent with the form and appearance of the mass, which was described by Dr. Webb as closely similar to the body of the common small octopus. The photographs show this resemblance very clearly; and the ridges at the mutilated end, then supposed to be the stumps of mutilated arms, seemed to confirm the view that the mass was the mutilated body of a huge octopus, and as such it was described by me in the American Journal of Science and elsewhere.

As soon as specimens of the tissues were sent to me, even a hasty examination was sufficient to show that this view was not correct, for instead of being composed of hardened muscular fibers, as had been supposed, the thick masses of tissue were found to consist almost wholly of a hard, elastic complex of connective tissue fibers of large size. The masses sent vary from four to ten inches in thickness. They are white, and so tough that it is hard to cut them, even with a razor, and yet they are somewhat flexible and elastic. The fibers are much interlaced in all directions, and are of all sizes up to the size of coarse twine and small cords. The larger fibers unite to form bundles extending from the inner surface radially. According to Dr. Webb, who opened the mass, these cords were attached