352 SEA MONSTERS UNMASKED. 



sentations of the fisheries and fish-curing processes of the 

 country. It is in three volumes, and is entitled, * Land and 

 Sea Products,' by Ki Kone. It is evidently ancient, for it 

 is slightly worm-eaten, but the plates, each 1 2 inches by 

 8 inches, are full of vigour. Two of these illustrate in a 

 very interesting manner the subject before us, and by the 

 kindness of Mr. Tegetmeier I am able to give facsimiles of 

 them, which appeared with an article by him on this book 

 in the Field 'of March I4th, 1874. Fig. 6 represents a fisher- 

 man in a boat out at sea : a gigantic octopus has thrown 

 one of its arms over the side of the boat ; the man, who is 

 alone, has started forward from the stern of the boat, and 

 has succeeded, by means of a large knife attached to a long 

 handle, in lopping off the dangerous limb of his enemy. 

 As Mr. Tegetmeier says, " From the extreme matter of fact 

 manner in which all these engravings are made, and the total 

 absence of exaggeration in any other representation, I can- 

 not but regard the relative sizes of the man, the boat, and 

 the octopus, as correctly given, in which case we have 

 evidence of the existence of gigantic cephalopods in 

 Japanese waters." The only doubt I have is whether the 

 fisherman correctly described his assailant as an octopus, 

 and whether it was not a calamary. Fig. 7 is a vivid 

 picture of a fishmonger's shop in a market, under the awn- 

 ing of which may be seen two arms of a gigantic cuttle hung 

 up for sale as food. These are evidently of most unusual 

 size, judging from the action of the lookers on ; the one 

 to the left, with a tall stand or case on his back, like a 

 Parisian cocoa-vendor, is holding out his hand in mute 

 astonishment ; whilst the attention of the smaller personage 

 in the right-hand corner is directed to the suspended arms 

 of the cuttle by the man nearest to him, who is pointing to 

 them with upraised hand. In another plate in this most 



