GIGANTIC 



ness '.' Ill favor <>f the first hypothesis, it may IK- s;ii<l that: 



I. In nciirlij fill the LLTeat divisions of the cephalopods. Li'iuantic 

 individuals have been observed; II. Monstrous specimens f 

 A mmonites. Nautilus, eh-., nrc found amon^ tin- fossil cephalo- 

 pods. also; 111. That the rarity itself of the occurrence of these 

 l.'iriiv individuals would IK- presumptive evidence of the abnormal 

 development of a species usually much smaller: lor example, 

 the irreal I.. Hnu i/rri is perhaps the same species as cephalopoda 

 seen l>\ the lishermen ol' the Canaries, and which do not exceed 

 about '> feel. On the oilier hand, it may be supposed : I. Thai 

 ihe rarity of these immense animals is due to their habits as 

 well as their si/e. that they frequent very u'reat depths, and that 

 we consequently only encounter feeble or half-dead individuals ; 



II. That the size of some of them is so out of proportion with 

 the ordinary si/e of related species, that it is wiser to consider 

 them distinct. Messrs. Trosse ami Fisher, in concluding the 

 observations of which the above is a succinct resume, express 

 a guarded preference lor the first hy pot hcsi-. 



Cephalopoda. We have already alluded to henys 

 Mon I fort's Colossal Ton I pe." which, cut wininu; i' s :irms about 

 i he masis of a ship, nearly cruised the destruction of the vessel. 

 Amoiiu the extraordinary mistakes or inventions with which 

 the dawn of natural history has been encumbered, one of the 

 most remarkable is the six-armed poulpe or X-yi/V/ hc.ni)^>tini of 

 Molina, in the " Hist. Nat. del Chili." 17S:>. It was adopted by 

 (Jmelin under the name of *SV/m/ In-.i-n jm*. and by Uosc. Turloii 

 and Ocken: an<l I)en\s Mont fort has composed and published 

 an imau'inary li^ure of this strange l>east in accordance with 

 Molina's dcM-ription. Frrnss.-ic (Ann. SV. \ul. /n<>l.. i\. 11:;. 

 I^.'l.'i) has _ii'ivcn a history of this animal, in which he shows that 

 the Spectre, an orl liopteroiis insect, is the original of this 

 >pc<-i.'-:" which, in addition to its six arms, possessed a six- 

 jointed body. Mont Tort's liu'iii'e is reproduced in our Troniis- 

 piece. in connection with that oT the "colossal poulpe " with 

 which his fervid imagination has enriched science. 



* Jour, de Conch., 3d ser., ii. i:'.!>, 1862, 



