OLD STORIES 25 
that their readers would take more interest in a large 
crustacean than in a small one. For this reason, no 
doubt, Olaus Magnus declares that between the Orkneys 
and the Hebrides there lives a kind of lobster so large and 
strong that it can catch a swimmer in its claws 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. Bose 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 
Joss of a great many of their limbs. Jt does not appear 
that the Crustacea of Europe have 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 Américains’ (t. i. p. 245), a 
work which describes the death of Drake as follows: 
1} Histoire Naturelle des Crustacés, contenant leur Description et 
leurs Mewrs, p. 149. 
eh 
