23 
be Wilj^ 
Wnfinta 
pitoltil| 
states 
cubits L 
willbefo® 
1 the lingers 
lut these® 
hose holes 
i of the one# 
. There iii 
srhich also ii 
.ted fact k 
they lire, Si 
e of the whale 
ilia. It is tit 
iOt many data: 
as f e possess 
ranized nature 
ineofthecrt 
this class*! 
jous structure! 
y do, of thef« 
; of warmth # 1 
ma ybe intend 
re a small 
ar own coasts;, 
; gigantic W 
ir l6feetH : 
InthePa^ 1 
ed,andinin^ 
me doubt is ^ 
1 Heilbr® 1 ^ 
is long 
a curiosity at Manheim. The sharks (cartilaginous) are met with in 
most latitudes, but the largest of the destructive species are those of the 
tropical seas. 
But perhaps the most remarkable of the cartilaginous families are the 
rays. The species on our coasts, such as the skate, have been known in 
individuals to attain a weight of 200 lbs.; but the pterocephali, which are 
entirely pelagic and very rarely seen , inhabit the tropical seas, and become 
so gigantic as to give rise to a suspicion that their appearance may be one 
of the phenomena on which the belief in the kraken has been based. In 
1845, the captain of a vessel trading to Africa, informed the author, that 
on his preceding voyage, while lying at Fernando Po, he saw from the 
deck of his vessel, at a distance out at sea, several large fish of singular 
appearance; going in pursuit of them with two canoes, manned with 
some of the ship’s crew and negroes, he came up with, and struck one 
with a harpoon, whereupon the creature set off with surprising velocity, 
swimming near the surface, and towed the canoes a distance of three 
miles before they succeeded in killing it. On getting it on shore it was 
found to measure 15 feet by 9 j and though the smallest of the schole, its 
weight was so great that all hands could scarcely haul it on the beach. 
From the description given by the captain, there was no difficulty in 
identifying his prize as an eagle ray. One of these creatures is stated to 
have been taken near Guadaloupe, 25 feet in expanse from extreme of one 
fin to the other across the body, and 14 feet from the snout to the tail, 
and it required seven yoke of oxen to drag it on shore. A schole of such 
creatures, seen from a distance through the mirage of a tropical sun, 
might, to a lively imagination, realize some parts of the description given 
of the appearance of the kraken. 
We also find the mollusca to increase wonderfully in size under the in¬ 
fluence of warmth, and protected by deep water. Contrast, for instance, 
the Polynesian clam with the European oyster—the medusae of the narrow 
seas with those of the Pacific, five feet in diameter. The same remark will 
apply to other species as the asteridae. 
But there is an order of this class (mollusca) which is suspected to 
furnish, if not the solution of one branch of the present inquiry, at least 
a species that may fairly come within the category of sea monsters. 
This is the cephalopoda, a form of animal life so strange, linked in¬ 
deed to other creatures by properties in common, yet possessing an 
organization so eccentric, and exercising its functions in so peculiar 
a manner, that in its contemplation analogy fails us, and we are tempted 
to believe that it is offered to our view as an intimation of a new series of 
