lo SEA MONSTERS UNMASKED. 
Roman greatness, during which science was degraded and 
ignorance prevailed ; and it is not till the middle of the 
sixteenth century, that the zoologist finds much to interest 
and instruct him. When we further reflect, that until 
within the past five and twenty years — till our large 
aquaria were constructed — Aristotle's knowledge of the 
habits and life-history of marine animals, and amongst them 
the cephalopods, was incomparably greater and more perfect 
than that possessed by any man who had lived since he 
recorded his observations, we cannot help feehng that in 
some departments of knowledge there is still lost ground to 
be recovered. 
In the old days of the Caesars, a Greek or Roman house- 
wife who was accustomed to see the cuttle, the squid, and 
the octopus daily exposed for sale in the markets, would 
of course have laughed at the idea of mistaking the one for 
the other ; but there are comparatively few persons in our 
own country, at the present day, except those who have 
made marine zoology their study, whose ideas on the sub- 
ject are not exceedingly hazy. This want of technical 
knowledge is not confined to the masses ; but is common, 
if not general, amongst those who have been well educated, 
and is frequently apparent even in leaders in the daily 
papers — the productions, for the most part, of men of 
receptive minds, trained discrimination, and great general 
knowledge. As the subject is one in which I have long 
felt especial interest, I venture to hope that I may succeed 
in making clear the difi*erence between the eight-footed 
octopus and its ten-footed relatives, and thus enable the 
reader to identify the member of the family from which we 
are to strip the dress and " make up " in which it masque- 
raded as the Kraken, and cause it to appear in its true 
and natural form. 
