170 
EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 
the masts of ships and he adds, that a whole regiment 
of soldiers could easily go through their manoeuvres on 
its back. The Bishop of Nidros is said to have dis- 
covered one of these gigantic krakens asleep in the sun, 
and believing it to be a large rock, raised an altar on its 
surface, and celebrated Mass, The kraken remained 
stationary during the ceremony, but the bishop had 
scarcely regained the shore, before the monster re- 
plunged into the deep.* 
The Hydra of Lerna, destroyed by Hercules, was 
most certainly a poly pus ^ or sepia, and, in at least one of 
the early representations of the subject, the animal is 
most correctly drawn as a cuttle-fish or polypus. Mont- 
faucon represents the hydra as a monster with several 
heads — some seven, others nine, and others fifty, but 
that it was not a dragon is evident, not only from the 
waves which are at its feet, but also from the form and 
capaciousness of its breast, and whole body ; and, again, 
its connection with the ocean can be traced, in the crab 
being sent to its assistance by Juno, to bite Hercules in 
the heel, and when he crushed it, he overcame the Hydra. 
Pliny mentions several kinds of polypi, one which he 
especially calls the land polypus, and states that it is 
larger than that of the sea ; and Hardouin says it is the 
species found on the seashore, which more frequently 
comes on dry land than the other kinds. f 
The polypus is recommended by Pliny for arresting 
haemorrhage, — it is bruised and then applied ; and he 
further adds, concerning it, that of itself it emits a sort 
of brine, and therefore needs none to be used when it is 
cooked ; that it should be sliced with a reed, as it is 
* Fredol, ‘ Le Monde de la Mer,’ p. 310. 
t Pliny, Nat. Hist, voL ii. bk, ix. c. 46 1 see note. 
