THE DEVIL-FISH. 



145 



cant. At times we are tempted to imagine that the vague forms which float in our dreams 

 may encounter in the realm of the Possible attractive forces, having- power to fix their 

 lineaments, and shape living beings out of these creatures of our slumbers. 



" If terror were the object of its creation, nothing could be more 

 perfect than the devil-fish. 



"The whale has enormous bulk, the devil-fish is comparatively small; 

 the tararaca makes a hissing noise, the devil-fish is mute; the rhinoceros 

 has a horn, the devil-fish has none ; the scorpion has a dart, the devil-fish 

 has no dart ; the shark has sharp fins, the devil-fish has no fins ; the 

 vespertilio-bat has wings with claws, the devil-fish has no wings ; the 

 porcupine has his spines, the devil-fish has no spines; the sword-fish has 

 his sword, the devil-fish has no sword; the torpedo has its electric spark, 

 PUKPXTKA LAPILLUS. the devil-fish has none ; the toad has its poison, the devil-fish has none ; 

 the viper has its venom, the devil-fish has no venom; the lion has its 

 talons, the devil-fish has no talons; the griffon has its beak, 

 the devil-fish has no beak ; the crocodile has its jaws, the devil- 

 fish has no teeth. 



"The devil-fish has no muscular organisation, no menacing 

 cry, no breastplate, no horn, no dart, no claw, no tail with 

 which to hold or bruise, no cutting fins, or wings with nails, 

 no prickles, no sword, no electric discharge, no poison, no talons, 

 no beak, no teeth. Yet he is, of all creatures, the most formi- 

 dably armed. What, then, is the devil-fish? It is the sea- 

 vampire. 



"The swimmer who, attracted by the beauty of the spot, 

 ventures among breakers in the open sea, where the still waters 

 hide the splendours of the deep, or in the 



hollows of unfrequented r"ocks, in unknown caverns abounding in 

 sea-plants, testacea and Crustacea, under the deep portals of the ocean, 

 runs the risk of meeting it. If that fate should be yours, be not 

 curious, but fly. The intruder enters there dazzled, but quits the 

 spot in terror. 



"This frightful apparition, which is always possible among the 

 rocks in the open sea, is a greyish form which undulates in the 

 water. It is the thickness of a man's arm, and its length nearly 

 five feet. Its outline is ragged. Its form resembles an umbrella 

 closed, and without handle. This irregular mass advances slowly 

 towards you. Suddenly it opens, and eight radii issue abruptly from 

 CLEODORA. around a face with two eyes. These radii are alive; their undulation 



is like lambent flames; they resemble, when opened, the spokes of 



a wheel of four or five feet in diameter. A terrible expansion ! It springs upon its prey. 

 "The devil-fish harpoons its victim. 



" It winds around the sufferer, covering and entangling him in its long folds. Under- 

 139 



