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length of 10 or 12 feet ; eels at Surinam to 15 or 16 ; a cod 

 there weighs a hundred pounds. But perhaps the most 

 remarkable of the cartiloginous family are the Kays. Of 

 these, the Pterocephali, which are very rarely seen, 

 inhabit the tropical seas, and become so gigantic as 

 to give rise to a suspicion that their appearance may be 

 one of the phenomena on which the belief of the kraken 

 has been based. The captain of an African vessel in- 

 formed me, that last year, while at Fernando Po, from 

 the deck of his vessel, he saw a shoal of these creatures 

 out at sea — and going in pursuit, succeeded after a severe 

 struggle in capturing one, the least, whose dimensions were 

 15 feet by 9. And at Guadaloupe an eagle ray was killed 

 25 feet by 14, requiring a yoke of seven oxen to draw it to 

 shore." A shoal of such creatures, seen from a distance, on 

 the surface of a calm sea, through the mirage of a tropical 

 sun, might to a lively imagination realize some portions of 

 the appearance of the kraken." 



The objection from temperature is answered by the fact 

 ascertained by experiment in various parts of the world, — 

 that though the temperature of the ocean decreases to a 

 certain depth, below that it is often, if not usually, found 

 to increase. Similar facts occur in penetrating to any 

 depth in the solid earth, the central heat manifesting itself 

 when the effect of the sun's influence becomes unappreciable. 

 The lower strata of the ocean, therefore, may be better fitted 

 for sustaining animal life than some of the intermediate 

 ones, even did we not know, that at every variety of tem- 

 perature of the sea, as well as of the land, some peculiar 

 class of creatures finds a suitable " habitat." 



The writer then proceeded to notice the actual accounts 

 which have come down to us, with any degree of authenticity, 

 respecting the marine monsters whose existence is most dis- 

 puted. Of the Kraken, the first account of any interest 

 that is given id us, is by the celebrated Norwegian Bishop 



