THE SQUID AND OCTOPUS — BARTSCH. 351 



mystery of the sea and the toothsomeness of our beasts, and you have 

 a setting with possibilities that seek a rival. No wonder, then, that 

 we find the ancient writers and bards and all those of j^ears be- 

 tween them and our modern penman singing songs and spinning 

 yarns about our Cephalopods, for they possess all the qualifications 

 denoted above. Passing through the literature of the ages, one finds 

 myths and fancies so wonderfully intertwined with a basis of facts, 

 that even the knowing, prosaic but incisive naturalist finds it difficult 

 to pass judgment on what is fact or fiction. One thing, however, is 

 certain, and that is that all the legends and myths appear as clumsy 

 sailor yarns when compared with the facts which are b^ing slowly 

 revealed by the painstaking students of the group. 



The early writings frequently combine in their discussion of some 

 one of these animals, characteristics that belong to widely different 

 orders. Not only that, but the earlier authors even assigned to the 

 Physalia or Portuguese Man-o'-War, and the beautiful little Velella, 

 attributes belonging to the Argonauta and the Chambered Nautilus, 

 for the fairy sails that were assigned to these animals are un- 

 doubtedly the wonderfully colored floats of the lowly organized 

 Hydrozoans (pi. 7). 



We quote from Pliny : 



The Nautilus, or Sailing Polypus. 



Among the most remarkable curiosities is tlie animal which has the name of 

 Nautilus, or, as some people call it, the Pompilos. Lying with the head upward, 

 it rises to the surface of the water, raising itself little by little, while, by 

 means of a certain conduit in its body, it discharges all the water, and this 

 being got rid of like so much bilge-water as it were, it finds no difficulty in 

 sailing along. Then, extending backwards its two front arms, it stretches out 

 between them a membrane of marvelous thinness, which acts as a sail spi'ead 

 out to the wind, while with the rest of its arms it paddles along below, steering 

 itself with its tail in the middle, which acts as a rudder. Thus does it make 

 its way along the deep, mimicking the appearance of a light Liburnian bark ; 

 while if anything chances to cause it alarm in an instant it draws in the 

 water and sinks to the bottom. 



The Chambered Nautilus lives in the tropical Avestern Pacific, 

 usually at a depth of a hundred or more feet, and, all myths to the 

 contrary, has never been known to sail the surface of the sea (pi. 8). 



We quote more from the same authority, this time a story relating 

 to a gigantic octopus: 



At Carteia, in the preserves there, a polypus was in the habit of coming from 

 the sea to the pickling tubs, that were left open, and devouring the fish laid in 

 salt there — for it is quite astonishing how eagerly all sea animals follow even 

 the very smell of salted condiments ; so much so, that it is for this reason that 

 the fishermen take care to rub the inside of the wicker fish kipes with them. 

 At last by its repeated thefts and immoderate depredations it drew down upon 



