I've had other stinkhorns, but not octopus, which according to a quick google search looks a lot more like starfish and is indigenous to Australia (but has turned up in the SF bay area).

This is the type I've had on Cape Cod:

By the way, what I read about stinkhorns indicates that they are not harmful, do not indicate anything wrong (the opposite, actually), and that trying to get rid of them might be a waste of time (does not work).

The ones I've had did not smell, maybe because they mature and disappear pretty quickly.

These photos (above/below) are from http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/july99.html

Here's Clathrus columnatus, the stinky squid stinkhorn:

Hi diggingthedirt,

I did read that the octopus stinkhorn is from Australia, but I couldn't find anything else that resembled what I saw. I never saw the white 'eggs' they seem to emerge from either. --Just orange crab claws emerging from cedar mulch in a bed with acidic soil. Oh, how I wish I had taken a photo! They popped up in 4 or 5 spots within a couple of feet from each other, but they're gone now.

I just looked at the web site mushroom expert.com and mine did look a little like the top photo on the Pseudocolus fusiformis page. But the two lower pictures on the page don't resemble mine at all. Maybe I saw them before they collapsed.

Interesting. I hope to get another chance at a photo.

(http://www.mushroomexpert.com/pseudocolus_fusiformis.html)

Here is a link that might be useful: Pseudocolus fusiformis