l38 
LECTURE X. 
doubted ; and though some accounts may hav<g 
been much exaggerated, yet there is sufficient 
cause for believing that such species very far sur- 
pass all that are generally observable about the 
coasts of the European seas. A modern natura- 
list chooses to distinguish this tremendous species 
by the title of the Colossal Cuttle-Fish, and seems 
amply disposed to believe all that has been re- 
lated of its ravages. A northern navigator of the 
name of Deiis is said some years ago to have lost 
three of his men in the African seas, by a monster 
of this kind, which unexpectedly made its appear- 
ance while these men were employed, during a 
calm, in raking the sides of the vessel. The Colos- 
sal Cuttle-Fish seized these men in its arms, and 
drew them under w^ater, in spite of every effort to 
preserve them : the thickness of one of the arms 
which was cut off in the contest was that of a mi- 
zen-mast, and the acetabula or suckers of the size 
of pot-lids. 
But what shall we say to the idea of a modern 
French naturalist, who is inclined to suppose, that 
the destruction of the great French ship the Ville 
de Paris, taken by the English during the Ameri- 
can war, together with nine other ships which 
