OLD STOKIES 25 



that tlieir readers would take more interest in a large 

 crustacean than in a small one. For this reason, no 

 doubt, Olans Magnus declares that between the Orkneys 

 and the Hebrides there lives a kind of lobster so larofe and 

 strong that it can catch a swimmer in its claw^s and 

 squeeze him to death. His picture, as will be seen, repre- 

 sents a bearded man as a mere plaything in the lobster's 

 arms. The human race is avenged in the companion 

 picture, where a lobster twelve feet long is itself being 

 ruthlessly devoured by a ' rhinoceros whale.' Though these 

 myths are many centuries old, they still have an amusing 

 interest to the Anglo-Saxon from having been localised in 

 British waters. It is, however, very extraordinary that 

 at the beginning of the present century a travelled French 

 naturalist of eminence should have accepted a statement 

 little differing from that of Olaus. L. A. G. Bosc in 1802 

 published his ' Natural History of the Crustacea, contain- 

 ing a Description of them and their Manners,' in the In- 

 troduction to which he says : — 



' It is related that on the coasts of the isles of America, 

 where the crabs are in great profusion, they engage during 

 the pairing season in desperate conflicts, which often result 

 in the death of numerous individuals, and always in the 

 loss of a great many of their limbs. It does not appear 

 that the Crustacea of Europe ha/e this custom ; but their 

 small numbers, and the perpetual hunting after them, do 

 not permit so easy an observation of their habits, as in 

 warm countries, where it is said that they are of a size so 

 monstrous, that they attack men, and have eaten several, 

 amongst others the famous sea captain Francis Drake 

 (Francois Drack), who, although armed, could not avoid 

 this fate.' ^ 



This passage is still retained in the revision of 1830, 

 edited by the well-informed Desmarest. The story ap- 

 pears to have been derived from De Paw's ' Recherches 

 Philosophiques sur les Americains ' (t. i. p. 245), ^ a 

 work which describes the death of Drake as follows : 



^ Histoire Naturelle des Ciuslaces, contcnant leur Description et 

 leurs 3IceuTS, p. 149. 



4 



