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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
that the Cuttle-fish, in association with the Calamaries or Squids, 
are referred by naturalists to that division of the Cephalopodous 
(head-footed) Mollusca termed the Decapoda, all its represent- 
atives having ten arms wherewith to grapple for and seize its prey. 
Two out of these are specially modified, much longer than the 
remaining eight, and technically termed the tentacula, in con- 
tradistinction to the shorter and more numerous appendages 
which are recognised as the ordinary arms. The Calamaries or 
Squids, Teuthidae, are further distinguished from the ordinary 
Cuttle-fish, Sepiadse, by the greater length of their body, and 
more perfect adaptation, through the possession of larger fins, 
for an essentially pelagic life. Another important anatomical 
characteristic of this group is that the broad, internal, calcareous 
cuttle-bone, or sepiostaire , is here replaced by a narrow, horny, 
more or less transparent, u pen,” or gladius , which, in combina- 
tion with the largely developed ink-bag of these creatures, has 
secured for them the popular and not inappropriate title of 
“ Pen-and-ink ” fish. 
From time immemorial tradition has assigned to certain 
members of this Calamary tribe proportions so far exceeding 
those of any authenticated representative of the Invertebrata, or 
indeed, with the exception of the whales, of the whole animal 
kingdom, that little or no credence in their existence has been 
placed by modern men of science. Yet, notwithstanding 
the large extent to which fact and fiction have undoubtedly 
been blended together in the earlier accounts handed down to 
us, the events of the last few months have supplied some most 
important links to a hitherto very disconnected chain of evidence; 
these links establishing in a remarkable manner, and beyond 
question, the existence of Cephalopods belonging to this group of 
the most formidable dimensions. Before entering, however, upon 
the subject of this latest evidence, we propose to give a brief 
review of the position in which we previously stood in respect 
to our knowledge of these ocean monsters. 
Aristotle, Pliny, iElian, Strabo, and other ancient writers, 
are unanimous in assigning to the Mediterranean waters the 
presence of gigantic Cephalopods ; and although in many in- 
stances their histories are shrouded in a tissue of fable and ex- 
aggeration, recent discovery compels us to admit that most, in all 
probability, had some foundation in the solid ground of facts. 
Pliny, in particular, relates a narrative of one of these creatures 
destroyed on the coast of Spain by Trebius Niger, a lieutenant 
acting in that country for L. Lucullus. The head of this 
monster, which was preserved and shown to Lucullus, was of the 
size of a cask, and one of the arms is stated to have measured 
thirty feet. Two of these arms, the last-named being doubtless 
one, are recorded as of much greater length than the others, 
