lo THE OCTOPUS. 



Since then, the Brighton Aquarium has only once been with- 

 out an octopus ; and although the popular chief of curiosities in a 

 marine vivarium has doubtless passed the zenith of his greatness, 

 he still holds an honoured place amongst the " past masters " of the 

 tanks. 



After the publication in the '' Times," "Land and Water" and 

 other papers, of my notes of observations of the habits of the 

 octopus in confinement, I was favoured with several private letters 

 on the subject ; some of them from strangers giving me interest- 

 ing information concerning it, derived from their own experience, 

 and others requesting me to decide between adverse opinions 

 based respectively on the florid conceptions of the novelist, 

 and the scarcely less romantic, though truthful, description of the 

 naturalist. 



Articles and paragraphs on the same topic, also, not infrequently 

 appeared about that time, in daily and weekly papers ; of one of 

 which the following is a portion : — " It is much to be hoped that 

 as time and observation serve, Mr. Lee will give to the public a 

 paper devoted to a close scientific examination of Victor Hugo's 

 description of the devil-fish, so as to settle to the minutest points 

 wherein it is true to nature, and wherein the novelist has deviated 

 from the severity of fact." I confess the thought never before 

 occurred to me to dissect the author's description of the frightful 

 animal he depicts, because I have always regarded it as an accu- 

 mulation of intentionally fanciful and ingenious exaggerations, 

 which, with great melodramatic power, he succeeded in combining 

 into an embodiment of mysterious horror. But I accepted the 

 suggestion, and have incorporated in a comparative analysis of 

 M. Hugo's stirring romance, a description of the organization of 



disgust— -is probably, like many other illustrations, over-drawn, and not wholly 

 correct in its representation. For if, as -has been suggested, the salmon the 

 youths objected to were often kelts, salted or fresh, their protest is hardly to be 

 wondered at. No trace of such a stipulation has, however, been found in any 

 old indentures. 



