The bone, as we call it, is not really bone, but a sort of half-formed shell which the cuttlefish wears under its skin.

It has a large round body, surrounded by eight arms, which are many times the length of the body, and which it can twist or turn in any direction.  The mouth is in the centre of these arms.  Professor Winchell describes this ugly creature for us.  He says: 

“Staring out from either side of the head (the head and body are really one) is a pair of large, glassy eyes, which send a shudder over the beholder.  At the bottom of the sea the creature turns its eight arms down, and walks like a huge submarine spider, thrusting its arms into the crevices of the rocks, and extracting thence the luckless crab that had thought itself secure from so bulky a foe.  Each of the arms is covered with what are called suckers.  Each sucker consists of a little round horny ridge, forming a little cup, which is attached to the arm by a stem.  When the arm is pressed upon an object, the effort to escape from the grasp of the arm causes a suction which effectually retains the object.”

Professor Winchell goes on to tell that these cuttlefish or octopods sometimes attain a very great size, and that sailors tell wonderful stories about them.  In one of these stories, the captain of a ship declared that, while sailing off the African coast, he sent three of his men over the side of the ship to scrape it.  While they were at their work one of these monsters reached its long arms up from the water and drew two of them into the sea.

Professor Winchell says that while this may be only a sailor’s yarn, it is at the same time well known that these creatures do attain a fearful size.

The recent discovery of the cuttlefish in Florida may lead to some extremely interesting discoveries.

HORSELESS FIRE-ENGINE.

A monster steam fire-engine is being built for the city of Boston, and it is to be a horseless engine.

For some time past the Fire Department has been seeking for some engine powerful enough to throw water to the top of the very high buildings—­the skyscrapers, as they are called.

An ordinary engine is of very little use for these tall buildings.  And an engine large and powerful enough to throw the water to the necessary height would be so heavy that no horses could draw it.

The difficulty has been met by the invention of this horseless engine, which will throw a two-inch stream of water over 300 feet into the air.

The engine is propelled much in the same way as a steam engine.  The driver sits on a seat in front of the engine, and steers it by means of a wheel, and the engine is moved by steam.

When it arrives at the fire, the driving arrangement is disconnected, and all the energy of the steam is turned into the apparatus for forcing up the water.

The engine is sixteen feet long, seven feet wide, and ten feet high.  How terrified the horses in the roads will be when this huge monster comes rushing toward them, spouting fire, and appearing to move of its own free will.