DE MONSTRIS. 257 



or private, which does not contain specimens of insects 

 generally butterflies which are male on one side 

 and female on the other : the division being along the 

 centre of the body, exactly as is represented in the en- 

 graving of the Nurenberg Chronicle. 



Indeed, in actual nature are to be found almost 

 every instance of monstrosity which the mediaeval mind 

 could invent, and plenty besides, which would throw 

 these mediaeval monsters entirely into the shade. For 

 example, the Monoculi, or one-eyed men, are repre- 

 sented by a wonderful number of the tiny Crustacea 

 called Entomostraca, many of which are remarkable 

 for having a single eye placed in the midst of that 

 part of the body which does duty for a head, and which 

 are in consequence called by the appropriate names of 

 Cyclops, Polyphemus, and so on. As to the many- 

 eyed men, they are entirely outdone by the insects, 

 some of which have more than thirty thousand eyes a 

 fact which infinitely exceeds the imagination of the old 

 writers or artists. The men with their faces in their 

 breasts are represented by the crabs, lobsters, shrimps, 

 and their kin, all of which have their mouths set 

 exactly in the situation in which the old artist has 

 placed the mouth of his headless man. 



Then the unipeds are far outdone by many of the 

 molluscs, whose structure may be characterised as a large 

 foot, carrying a comparatively small body on it. In 

 the Nurenberg Chronicle the uniped is figured as 

 using his foot as an umbrella ; but neither artist nor 



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