Joseph Thomas Cunningham

“ The separation of one of the arms of the male for purposes of reproduction is one of the most remarkable peculiarities of the Octopoda. It does not occur, however, in octopus nor in many other members of the group. One arm is always considerably modified in structure and employed in copulation, but it is only in three genera, one of which is Argonauta, that the arm spontaneously separates. The detached arm is found still alive and moving in the mantle cavity of the female, and when first discovered in these circumstances was naturally regarded by the older naturalists as a parasite. ”

“ The octopus feeds on crabs, and crabs feed on carrion, and, therefore, there is nothing impossible in Hugo's account of the skeleton of a drowned man surrounded by the shells of numbers of crabs which the octopus had devoured. Whether an octopus would attack and kill a man is another question, but it certainly might seize him with its arms and suckers while holding to the rocks by other arms, and a man seized in this way when in the water might be in danger of being drowned. ”

“ The abnormal abundance occurred all along the west coast of France, whence it extended to the Channel, and was probably due to a succession of unusually warm summers and mild winters, beginning with the warm spring and hot summer of 1893. ”