Sea Monsters Unmasked, and Sea Fables Explained

The _Sepia_, the owner of the broad, flattened bone, has a decided predilection for the vicinity of the shore, and for comparatively shallow water. It there attaches its grape-l...

In an early account of Newfoundland,[50] Whitbourne describes a "maremaid or mareman," which he had seen "within the length of a pike," and which "came swimming swiftly towards...

Eminent zoologists and intelligent observers, who have had full opportunities of obtaining practical knowledge of the habits of these great marine mammals, have forcibly combate...

This incident is well-attested, and merits respectful and careful consideration; but I decline to admit any such impossibility of error in observation or description on the part...

The high character of the narrator would lead us to accept his statement that he had seen something previously unknown to him (he does not say it was a sea-serpent) even if we c...

"Sir,--In reply to your letter of this date, requiring information as to the truth of the statement published in the _Times_ newspaper, of a sea-serpent of extraordinary dimensi...

Every one knows the shell of the Pearly Nautilus. It may be purchased at any shell-shop in a seaside watering-place, and is imported by hundreds every year from Singapore.[80] I...

According to Berosus, of Babylon,--the Chaldean priest and astronomer, who extracted from the sacred books of "that great city" much interesting ancient lore, which he introduce...

Valerius Maximus,[24] quoting Livy, describes the alarm into which, during the Punic wars, the Romans, under Attilius Regulus (who was afterwards so cruelly put to death by the...

The flesh of the manatee is considered a great delicacy. Humboldt compares it with ham. Unlike that of the whales, which is of a deep and dark red hue, it is as white as veal, a...

In a manuscript by Paulsen (referred to by Professor Steenstrup, at a meeting of Scandinavian naturalists at Copenhagen in 1847) is a description of a large calamary, cast ashor...

"Sail-fish in secret, silent deeps reside, In shape and nature to the preke[75] allied; Close in their concave shells their bodies wrap, Avoid the waves and every storm escape....

It is easy to recognise in Pontoppidan's description of the Kraken, the form and habits of one of the "Cuttle-fishes," so-called. The appearance of its numerous arms, with which...

Produced by Jeannie Howse, Anna Hall, Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made availabl...

"Lieutenant Haynes writes, under date, 'Royal Yacht _Osborne_, Gibraltar, June 6': On the evening of that day, the sea being perfectly smooth, my attention was first called by s...

Thus this extraordinary belief held sway, and remained strong and invincible, although from time to time some man of sense and independent thought attempted to turn the tide of...

[97] If any of my readers wish to observe the development of young barnacles they may easily do so. The method I have generally adopted has been as follows: Procure a shallow gl...