io Fish Stories 



is shown in his estimates of the size of fishes or whales: 

 " Some are hairy, and of four Acres in bigness." Few short 

 sentences in any language, present such stupendous facts; 

 and when Magnus reaches the eye, he is magnificent : " His 

 eyes are so large, that fifteen men may sit in the room of each 

 of them, and sometimes twenty, or more, as the beast is in 

 quantity." Magnus doubtless had heard of the narwhal, as 

 he says : " His horns are 6 or 7 foot long, and he hath 250 

 upon each eye. . . . These grow together, to defend his eyes 

 in tempestuous weather." 



In most of these old tales there is some element of truth j 

 usually a naturalist can tell at a glance the real animal which 

 set going the imagination of the artist. Sometimes a re- 

 markable tale turns out to be literally true. It is said that 

 the late Professor Shaler of Harvard used to discuss the 

 phenomena of earthquakes by beginning an account of the 

 most severe of these within his experience. 



" I was riding on the back of a whale, when I was thrown 

 down by a sudden jar," etc. It transpired that he had 

 climbed on the back of a dead whale stranded on the Lab- 

 rador coast, when the great shaking of the earth began. 



Among the game fishes of these days were the Monk- and 

 Bishop-fish, descriptions of which are left to posterity by 

 Gesner and Aldrovandus. The Monk-fish is pictured in a 

 book by Sluper, who says : 



" La Mer poissons en abondance apporte, 

 Par dons divins que devons estimer. 

 Mais fort estrange est le Moyne de Mer, 

 Que est ainsi que ce pourtrait le porte." 



The Bishop-fish is particularly described by Du Bartas : 



" The mytred Bishop, and the cowled Fryer." 



In Rondelet's excellent book (1558), "Histoire Entiere 

 des Poissons," many mythological creatures appear. Two 

 of his plates are here reproduced. Of one of these, the 



