CHAPTER IV
Lives of the
Other Mollusks
In addition to the bivalves and snail classes, the mollusks include three other groups which are not so frequently seen at the seashore and whose combined number of living species probably does not exceed two thousand. Two of these classes, the Amphineura or Chitons and the Scaphopoda or Tusk-shells, are among the lowliest and most sluggish of the mollusks, but the third class, the well-known Cephalopoda, including the squid and octopuses, contains the largest, fastest and most ferocious of all backboneless animals.
THE SQUID AND OCTOPUSES—CEPHALOPODA
The octopuses and the giant squid have been spine-chilling characters in adventure tales from the days of the ancient Greeks to the undersea film thrillers of Hollywood. Nothing seems more appropriate for a horror scene then the sudden appearance of a tentacle-lashing, beady-eyed octopus just as the hero-diver finds the long-lost treasure chest. And few authors of strange sailing voyages can resist retelling the numerous instances in which gigantic squid have wrapped their arms about the riggings and dragged ship and hapless crew to the bottom.
But despite the fanciful nature of most, if not all, of these stories, there are enough scientific facts to convince the skeptic of the ferocity, speed and unusual intelligence of these creatures. Canadian and American fishermen have long been familiar with giant squid and have often captured
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