REVIEWS, TRANSLATIONS, AND SELECTED ARTICLES. 123 



may be mentioned in support of this view. Quite recently, a living 

 cephalopod of still larger dimensions than those just cited, was en- 

 countered by the French frigate Alecton, between Madeira and 

 Teneriffe. A description of this sea-monster is published by M. 

 Bouyer, the lieutenant commanding the vessel, and another by the 

 French consul at Teneriffe, in a recent number of the Comptes Rett' 

 duSi {No. 27, tome liii). "We translate from these a few of the more 

 interesting passages. 



The lieutenant of the vessel, M. Bouyer, writes from Teneriffe, 

 under the date of December 2nd, 1861, to the Minister of Marine, 

 le Marechal Vaillant, as follows : — " I have the honor to inform your 

 Excellency, that, after a favourable run, I cast anchor yesterday in 

 these roads. A somewhat singular incident characterised our voyage. 

 On the 30th of November at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, when about 

 forty leagues N. E. of Teneriffe, we encountered a monstrous 

 animal, which I recognised as the Poulpe geant, a creature generally 

 regarded as belonging rather to fable than to reality. Finding 

 myself in the presence of so remarkable a species — of one of those 

 strange forms which the ocean sometimes casts up from its depths 

 as though to tantalize and defy science — I resolved to examine it 

 more closely, and, if possible, to secure it. Unfortunately a strong 

 sea was running at the time, and this impeded the evolutions of the 

 frigate ; whilst the animal itself, although almost always at the surface 

 of the water, moved two and fro with a sort of intelligence,* and seemed 

 anxious to avoid the vessel. After several attacks, during which 

 the creature was struck by about a dozen musket balls, we succeeded 

 in getting sufficiently near to harpoon it, and contrived to work the 

 line of the harpoon around its body. Whilst preparing to strike it 

 anew, the creature by a sudden and violent effort freed itself from 

 the harpoon ; but the lower portion of its body, around which the 

 cord was twisted, became torn away, and a large mass weighing over 

 twenty kilogrammes (about 40 pounds) was drawn on board. 



"We obtained a sufficient view of the animal to make a good 

 sketch of it. It was evidently a gigantic calamary, but the form of 

 the tail seemed to indicate an undescribed species. It appeared to 



• M, Bouyer, it will be perceived, has a somewhat crude notion of the proper characters of 

 the group to which the the animal seen by him belongs. In another part of his letter, ho 

 calls the cephalopod in question, " un ctre ebauche, a viscous and colossal embryou." When 

 he wrote his description, he had evidently in his recollection that amusing book, as regards 

 matters scientific, the " la nier " of M. Mich61et. 



