170 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



the masts of ships ;" and he adds, that a whole regiment 

 of soldiers could easily go through their manoeuvres on 

 its back. The Bishop of Nidros is said to have dis- 

 covered one of these gigantic krakens asleep in the sun, 

 and believing it to be a large rock, raised an altar on its 

 surface, and celebrated Mass. The kraken remained 

 stationary during the ceremony, but the bishop had 

 scarcely regained the shore, before the monster re- 

 plunged into the deep.* 



The Hydra of Lerna, destroyed by Hercules, was 

 most certainly a polypus, or sepia, and, in at least one of 

 the early representations of the subject, the animal is 

 most correctly drawn as a cuttle-fish or polypus. Mont- 

 f'aucon represents the hydra as " a monster with several 

 heads — some seven, others nine, and others fifty, but 

 that it was not a dragon is evident, not only from the 

 waves which are at its feet, but also from the form and 

 capaciousness of its breast, and whole body ; and, again, 

 its connection with the ocean can be traced, in the crab 

 being sent to its assistance by Juno, to bite Hercules in 

 the heel, and when he crushed it, he overcame the Hydra. 



Pliny mentions several kinds of polypi, one which he 

 especially calls the land polypus, and states that it is 

 larger than that of the sea ; and Hardouin says it is the 

 species found on the seashore, which more frequently 

 comes on dry land than the other kinds. f 



The polypus is recommended by Pliny for arresting 

 haemorrhage, — it is bruised and then applied ; and he 

 further adds, concerning it, that of itself it emits a sort 

 of brine, and therefore needs none to be used when it is 

 cooked ; that it should be sliced with a reed, as it is 



* Fredol, ' Le Monde de la Mer,' p. 310. 



f Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. ii. bk. ix. c. -16 j see note. 



