Pliny describes one class as the many-foot ozæna, so called on account of its head diffusing a strong odor, the which induces the lampreys to approach it: this is also an attribute of the kraken, according to the reluctant testimony of Krantz. The whole of this tribe were dreaded by the mariners of yore, and no wonder, for Pliny relates that they cruelly assailed men when overboard, by catching them in their horrid claws, as if going to wrestle with them, and then setting the suckers to work, the victim soon died in the odious clasp. On the authority of Trebius Niger, one of the train of Lucius Lucullus, the proconsul of Bætica, he records the story of a very thievish polypus, which used to rob the stews, or repositories of sea-fish, on the beach of Carteia, in the bay of Gibraltar: the head of the monstrous fellow was equal in size to a cask capable of containing fifteen amphora; its arms measured thirty feet, and were so thick that a man could hardly clasp one of them, and were moreover covered with great suckers or fasteners, as large as basins that would hold four or five gallons each. The reader may like this story in the quaint transfusion of Doctor Holland, the industrious translator of Pliny :— 'The rest which mine author hath related as touching this fish may seem rather monstrous lies and incredible, than otherwise; for he affirmed, that at Carteia there was one of these polypi, which used commonly to go forth of the sea, and empty into some of their open cesterns and vaunts among their ponds and stewes, wherein they keep great sea-fishes, and otherwhiles would rob them of their salt-fish, and so goes his waies againe which he practised so long, that in the end he got himselfe the anger and displeasure of the immeasurable filching; whereupon they staked up the place and empalled it round about, to stop all passage thither. But this thief gave not over his accustomed haunt for all that, but made meanes by a certain tree to clamber over and get to the fore-said salt-fish; and never could he be taken in the manner, nor discovered, but that the dogges by their quick scent found him out and baied at him; for as he returned one night toward the sea, they assailed and set upon him on all sides, and therewith raised the foresaid keepers who were afrighted at this so sudden alarm, but more at the strange sight which they saw. For first and foremost this polype fish was of an unmeasurable and incredible bignesse: and besides, he was besmeared and beraied all over with the brine and pickle of the foresaid salt-fish, which made him both hideous to see to, and stinke withall most strongly. Who would ever have looked for a polipe there, or taken knowledge of him by such marks as these? Surely they thought no other, but that they had to deale and encounter with some monster: for with his terrible blowthe dog, and otherwhiles with the end of his ing and breathing that he kept, he drave away long stringed winding feet he would lash and whip them; sometimes with his stronger clawes like armes he rapped and knoked them well and surely, as it were with clubs. In summe, he made such good shift for himselfe, that hardly and with much adoe they could kill him, albeit he received many a wound with in the end his head was brought and shewed trout-speares which they lanced at him. Wel, to Lucullus for a wonder, and as it was a good round hogshead or barrel that would take and containe fifteen amphores; and his beards (for so Trebius tearmed his clawes and longbulke with them, that hardly a man could fastringed feet) carried such a thicknesse and thome one of them with both his armes, such knockers they were, knobbed and knotted like clubs, and withall thirty feet long. The concavities within them, and hollow vessels like great basons, would hold four or five gallons apece; and his teeth were answerable in proportion to the bignese of his bodie. The rest was saved for a wonder to be seene, and weighed 700 pounds weight.' The well-known tale of Baron Munchausen may be dismissed as barely credible; but surely this of Pliny must have been based in fact; and, together with recent stories of gigantic cephalopods-under the several names of squid, sepia, calamary, cuttle-fish, or pour-contrel-may have awakened the idea of a modern French naturalist, who is inclined to suppose that the destruction of the Ville de Paris, a threedecker taken by Rodney during the American War, together with nine other ships which went to her assistance on seeing her signal of distress, was owing, not to the hurricane which seemed to occasion the disaster, but to a group of colossal cuttlefishes which happened at that very time to be prowling about the ocean beneath these unfortunate vessels. The exact naturalists have, however, treated the subject gravely, although their conclusions, drawn from apparently authentic evidences, have been branded as resulting from unworthy credulity. Pennant, in his British Zoology, speaking of the eight-armed squid, says he has been well-assured from persons of undoubted credit, that in the Indian seas this species has been found of such a size as to measure two fathoms in breadth across the central part, while each arm has measured nine fathoms in length: and that the natives of the Indian Isles, when sailing in their canoes, always take care to be provided with the embrace of such a monster, may be hatchets, in order to cut off immediately imagined, and nothing but presence of the arms of such of those animals as hap- mind and decisive promptness can avail the pen to fling them over the sides of the canoe, human victim; the only mode of extricating lest they should pull it under water. The himself, provided both arms are not yet sober-minded Dr. Schwediawer, in his ac- clasped, is, by ripping open the body of the count of ambergris, read to the Royal animal with a sharp knife, or severing the Society in 1783, makes mention of the ten- arms of his formidable enemy-the which, taculum of the sepia octopodia, nearly in such abhorrent company and under twenty-seven feet long, which yet did not water, is not of easy accomplishment. On seem to be entire. This description cer- the shores of the Lesser Syrtis we heard tainly countenances the evidence brought some odd stories of these creatures, but forward by Olaus Magnus, and other writers, knowing the well-founded dread of the on the subject; and bears out Shaw in pro- divers, we considered that their fears pernouncing that the existence of some haps exaggerated the dimensions and deenormously large species of the cuttle-fish structive attributes of the horrid polypi. in the Indian and northern seas can hardly Since that time, however, those parts have be doubted; and though some accounts been visited by Sir Grenville Temple, who may have been much exaggerated, yet there states how highly dangerous they are to is sufficient cause for believing that such bathers; an instance of this,' he conspecies very far surpass all that are generally tinues, occurred two years since; a Sarobserved about the coast of the European dinian captain, bathing at Jerbeh, felt one seas.' The tragic narrative which tells of his feet in the grasp of one of these anithe loss of three of Captain Den's men, mals; on this, with his other he tried to has obtained general credit; and its re- disengage himself, but this limb was immecorder, Denys Montfort, further mentions, diately seized by another of the monster's that at St. Malo there is an ex-voto picture, arms; he then, with his hands, endeavored deposited in the chapel of St. Thomas by to free himself, but these also, in succesthe crew of a vessel, in remembrance of sion, were firmly grasped by the polypus, their wonderful preservation from a similar and the poor man was shortly after found attack off the coast of Angola-' Leur drowned, with all his limbs strongly bound combat terrible et le pressant danger qui les together by the arms and legs of the fish ; avoit menaces dans ce desastreux moment.' and it is extraordinary, that where this hapAn enormous cuttle-fish suddenly threw his pened, the water was scarcely four feet in arms across the vessel, and was on the point depth.' To this sad anecdote we will append of dragging it to the bottom, when the a more fortunate case, which befel Mr. combined efforts of the sailors succeeded Beale, the well-known cetologist, on a South in cutting off the tentacula of their dread-Sea whaling voyage in 1831. He relates ful opponent with swords and hatchets. We have seen and admired the elaborate mechanism of some pretty large creatures of this tribe, but they were pigmies in comparison with the above; though with their hideous bodies, goggle eyes, stringy arms, and spotted complexion, they cannot but prove awkward companions for swimmers to encounter. Mr. Baker, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1785, states that the squid can, by spreading its arms abroad like a net, so fetter and entangle the prey they enclose when they are drawn together, as to render it incapable of exerting its strength, for, however feeble these branches or arms may be singly, their power united becomes surprising.' Indeed the close hugging of its arms, and strong adhesion of its suckers, must render the efforts of unarmed prey unavailing, either for resistThe horror excited from ance or escape. it thus: 'While upon the Bonin Islands, searching for shells upon the rocks, which had just been ished at seeing at my feet a most extraordileft by the receding sea-tide, I was much astonnary-looking animal, crawling towards the surf, which had just left it. I had never seen one like it under such circumstances before; it therefore appeared the more remarkable. It was creeping on its eight legs, which, from under the weight of its body, so that it was their soft and flexible nature, bent considerably lifted by the efforts of its tentacula only a small distance from the rocks. It appeared much alarmed at seeing me, and made every effort to escape, while I was not much in the humor to endeavor to capture so ugly a cus tomer, whose appearace excited a feeling of disgust, not unmixed with fear. I however enof its legs with my foot, but although I made deavored to prevent its career, by pressing one use of considerable force for that purpose, its strength was so great that it several times quickly liberated its member, in spite of all the mentary systems, equally present the quinaefforts I could employ in this way on wet slip-ry arrangement; and even the cartilaginous pery rocks. I now laid hold of one of the ten-framework of the disk of every sucker is tacles with my hands, and held it firmly, so that the limb appeared as if it would be torn regulated by this mystic number.' The asunder by our united strength. I soon gave common sea-egg is as wonderful as a world! it a powerful jerk, wishing to disengage it On the whole, we are greatly inclined to from the rocks to which it clung so forcibly by believe that the first-rates of the cuttle-fish its suckers, which it effectually resisted; but tribe have given birth to the story of the the moment after, the apparently enraged ani- kraken, since the various descriptions of mal lifted its head, with its large eyes project- both those enormous inhabitants of the vasing from the middle of its body, and letting go its hold of the rocks, suddenly sprang upon my ty deep, though often vague and indefinite, arm, which I had previously bared to my are yet sufficiently in keeping to warrant shoulder, for the purpose of thrusting it into the inference. Scrupulous readers may holes in the rocks to discover shells, and clung choose to slue up their noses, and question with its suckers to it with great power, en- the actuality of either of the creatures deavoring to get its beak, which I now could here brought before them; and they may see between the roots of its arms, in a position superciliously remind us, that credulity 'A sensation of horror pervaded my whole readily adopts what cannot easily be disframe when I found this monstrous animal had proved. On this head we have very little affixed itself so firmly upon my arm. Its cold to say in reply; being bound to confess slimy grasp was extremely sickening, and I that the various stories we have examined, immediately called aloud to the captain, who are involved in the shades of ignorance was also searching for shells at some distance, and mystery, the obstacles to truth; restto come and release me from my disgusting ing only on the uncorroborated testimoassailant; he quickly arrived, and taking me down to the boat, during which time I was em- ny of incompetent witnesses. Therefore, ployed in keeping the beak away from my though it would be rather temerarious to hand, quickly released me by destroying my deny the existence of such prodigies, we tormentor with the boat-knife, when I disen- cannot consent to receive the narratives as gaged it by portions at a time. This animal established facts. must have measured across its expanded arms about four feet, while its body was not larger than a large clenched hand. It was of that species of sepia which is called by the whalers rock-squid.' to bite! Diminutive as this squid was, in comparison with those of which we have been talking, Mr. Beale would have found it a still uglier costomer in the water. The anecdote is interesting, and exhibits a lively picture of a naturalist in distress. The other fish shall be served up in our next. From the Metropolitan. THE INVISIBLE DRAMAS OF HUMAN LIFE. Be this, or aught Than this, more secret now designed, I haste To know. Milton--Paradise Lost. While passing the octopods, it is impossible to overlook the order of the radiated tribes in parts having a reigning definite number. Professor E. Forbes, whose elegant work on Echinoderms evinces both knowledge and taste, lucidly remarks that On the sixth floor of a magnificent house 'the name of five-finger, commonly applied of the Chaussée d'Antin in Paris, there reto the starfishes, is founded on a popular sided some years ago, a young man of the recognition of the number regnant. It has name of Mark Anthony Riponneau. He long been noticed. Among the problems was a stout fresh-colored young fellow, of proposed by that true-spirited but eccentric about five-and-twenty years of age, endowphilosopher, Sir Thomas Brown, is one, ed by nature with a round, good-humoredWhy, among sea stars, Nature chiefly de-looking countenance, a pair of light blue lighteth in five points?" * * Among eyes set rather far apart, a nose slightly rethe lower and the typical orders we find troussé, furnished with a pair of nostrils of this number regulating the number of parts. most amazing width, and a couple of large Every plate of the Sea-Urchin is built up projecting lips of a most decided cherryof pentagonal particles. The skeletons of colored hue. In short, all the separate elethe digestive, the aquiferous, and the tegu- ments which united form a true visage of happy." Here Master Riponneau would give a mighty stamp upon the floor. "If I were only as this M. Donen, who occupies the entire second floor of our house, what a different use I should make of his fortune from what he does! But what matters it? He is happy in his own way, since, being able to live every where, he confines himself to his own rooms; whilst with me, I must deprive myself of every thing. Besides, had he no fortune, he would have glory, consideration. Thunder and lightning, how happy he is!" Riponneau would would accompany this passage of his griefs with a clattering of the feet perfectly terrific. happiness and content were there, had not sion, a certain Monsieur and Madame de a low forehead and a thick shock of black Crivelin. They are rich-all smile on thatch, so stiff and so strong that it could them; the world flatters them-they are be likened only to the bristles of a hairbrush, imparted to his physiognomy a mean and envious appearance, denoting more of pig-headed obstinacy than of firmness or intelligence. Mark Anthony was a clerk in the office of the Minister of Finance, with a salary of about 1800 francs a-year; and with this sum he was obliged to content himself, though he was far from being content. Employed in the Budget of the State, he had learned all the illusions, and in his position as clerk in a government office, the constant association with men of influence and wealth, and the sight of that ever-flowing tide of money which rolled unceasingly through his hands, succeeded in completely disgusting him with his own situation in the world. Mark Anthony, as Then would come fresh exclamations; I have said before, received a salary of first upon the hosier who occupied the shop about 1800 francs a-year; he had no other on the right; then upon the confectioner resources for increasing his income to look on the left, and upon all the lodgers in the forward to; so that each expense he was house, one after the other; for, with the obliged at any time to incur was invariably exception of our friend Riponneau and one foreseen, calculated, and arranged before- or two others, the house was tenanted by hand. Thus, by dint of strict sobriety and persons of wealth and consideration. Lacoccasionally "supping small," he was en- queys, dogs, and horses, swarmed in the abled to appear at all times tolerably well court-yard; from the kitchens exhaled the dressed; and, by dint of great circumspec- most appetizing fumes. On the staircases, tion in his movements, he maintained his when descending in the morning to procoats in a state of decent preservation, cure the milk for his breakfast, Mark Anwhen, upon the shoulders of a gesticulator, thony would encounter a host of pretty they would long since have been worn com- chambermaids in snowy aprons, perfumed pletely threadbare. Riponneau never per- from the essences of their mistresses' toimitted himself the slightest movement of lets. Then he would run up against the arm or limb out of the bounds of the strict- jolly red-faced cooks hurrying on their dif est moderation, or even to draw a breath ferent missions. His boots, blackened with of greater magnitude than its fellows, until great difficulty by his own hands, paled bedisencumbered of every garment liable to fore the mirror-like brilliancy of the varbe damaged by a too great freedom of ac-nished shoes even of the valets-de-chambre. tion. But it must be said that, during these The happiness of the master insulted him moments, he amply indemnified himself for through the servant. his previous six or eight hours' confinement; and it was by a piece of pantomime, both elaborate and extraordinary, that he would in general accompany the following exclamations: "To have but a miserable 1800 francs, and to feel within one's self the germs of every noble thought." Then, in the evening would come the delicious strains of the concerts, the murmurs of the balls, and the sounds of dancing feet; and sometimes, through an open window, would peep a beautiful head, fair or dark, crowned with a garland of flowers-a light and graceful figure, radiant in the folds of the many-colored silk, or veiled in the mazy vapors of muslin; at one time, the gentle languor of unoccupied happiness; at another, the ardent fever of pleasure. All these things surrounded Mark Anthony "Ah!" Mark Anthony would continue, with a burning atmosphere of desires, in "to be poor, and to see in front of one the midst of which he incessantly gravitatthere, on the first floor of that noble man-ed-opening his chest to this balmy air, his These germs of every noble thought, be be it stated, properly speaking, as consisting in a desire for all the luxurious pleasures of the world. "Eh!" said Mark Anthony. 66 lips to these divine phantoms-unable to bor, for her sake, for the sake of that poor seize any thing, grasping at emptiness, em-girl, do not study your characters quite so bracing shadows, and finally reaching those loudly." transports of impotent rage under the influence of which he would stamp the floor with his feet, beat the walls of his little apartment with violent blows of his clenched fists, and perform sundry other interesting pantomimic acts of an equally edifying and curious description. Besides, continued the neighbor, in the same gentle tone, "I have seen Talma, and believe me, my dear sir, that it was not by means of fierce gesticulations and loud cries that he produced his greatest effects. Look here, in Manlius, for instance, he but raised his finger thus, and looked half round while he repeated these two verses: C'est moi qui, prevanant leur attente frivole One evening, when the exasperation of our friend Riponneau had reached a fearfully turbulent height, he heard a gentle. knock at the door of his apartment, and almost immediately there entered the room a man of about sixty years of age, enveloped in the folds of a robe-de-chambre of wadded India silk drawn in round the waist by a heavy silken cord. The features of this unexpected guest were expressive and in-neau, "I am not a comedian." tellectual. Under a forehead, the height of which was in appearance increased by the baldness of the entire of the fore and upper parts of the head, there sparkled a pair of vividly bright grey eyes, through which pierced a glance of hidden raillery; while, as if in compensation for their too sarcastic expression, the entire of the lower portion of the face, and especially the mouth, around which played a gentle and melancholy smile, were of almost feminine grace and beauty. Renversai les Gaulois du haut du Capitole.' And the applause throughout the entire house was always deafening. Believe me, monsieur, good declamation. . . ." "But, monsieur," interrupted Ripon "Ah, bah!" said the old neighbor, "you are then an avocat?" My neighbor," said he to Riponneau, in a low and musical tone of voice, "every one is master of his own apartment. I have not been present at the taking of the Bastile, nor assisted at the revolution of July, not to recognize this great political principle. But all liberty has its bounds, otherwise it encroaches on that of others. You have the liberty of crying out, but in a certain degree only, for I have the liberty of sleeping; and if your liberty infringes on mine, it becomes tyranny, and mine slavery, which is contrary to the principles of the two revolutions of which I have just now spoken to you." Mark Anthony felt a strong desire to get into a passion, but his neighbor did not give him time, and continued as follows: "Besides, it is not for myself that I complain; I live willingly in silence or in uproar; but I speak to you on the part of your little neighbor, Mademoiselle Juana, the seamstress, whom I saw come in this evening looking so pale and ill, and her eyes red with tears and the fatigue of work. The poor child is gone to bed, hoping to sleep, as she has told me. Well, my dear neigh "No, no," replied Riponneau. "You are too young for a deputy. What are you, then, if I may ask without being thought impertinent?" Mark Anthony hesitated for a moment, and at length replied: "I am poor, monsieur; the happiness of the rich afflicts me, and I amuse myself in my own way." The neighbor regarded Riponneau with an expression of interest; there was perceptible on the features of the old man a struggle between sarcasm and benevolence. Benevolence carried the day. He took a chair, and, with that air of mild authority which is the prerogative of old age and experience, he said to Riponneau : "Ah! you are poor, and consequently unhappy. Let us have a few moments' conversation together, neighbor. You know that liberality is even found amongst the poor, and I who am happy should like to bestow upon you a little of that of which you stand in need. I desire to share some of my happiness with you." 66 And how, might I ask, neighbor, can you manage that? for, if I am not mistaken, you live alone." "Yes." "You work from morning till night." "You rarely stir out." "In what, then, consists your happiness? and what could you give me?" "Nothing; but yet I should consider that I had done much for you could I but re |