The kind which is found most frequently in our country is represented in the plate fig. 2. Its skin is smooth and often of a dusky white, with reddish brown spots, and its length about a foot. It is eaten by the poor people on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. I never tasted it, but I do not think that either you or I should like it, from the look of its flesh. There is another species of which the ink makes the colour called sepia, which is of great value to artists. The largest is called Octopus, and is figured No. 1, in the plate. It is a very powerful creature, and very ferocious in its disposition. It is mostly found in the Indian Ocean, where it has been known to drown men by throwing its great arms round their limbs as they were swimming. It is also much dreaded by the natives of some of the islands, who sail in small canoes; for an Octopus will sometimes cast one of its arms over the side of the canoe, and will be sure to overturn it, if the man does not instantly chop the arm off. Like most other very wonderful things, the accounts of the Octopus seem to have been strangely exaggerated, though we should not be too ready to deny what a man who seems to be sensible and honest relates, merely because it is not like our own experience. In regard to the largest size to which the creature has been known to attain, it is very difficult to tell what is the truth. I will relate to you what has been said on the subject. Some navigators have asserted that the largest vessels have been put in danger by an Octopus raising its arms so as to get them entangled in the rigging; and a great many have said the same respecting large boats. Pliny, the Roman Naturalist, tells a story of one in particular, which was a sad thief. I should tell you that the Octopus is able to walk on land when the surface is uneven, so that he can get something for his suckers to adhere to. Well, this individual that Pliny mentions, used to visit a house near the sea-side, and steal all the provisions within his reach. He was seen once or twice before he could be taken; but at last his thefts were so important, that the inhabitants of the house watched for him all night, and caught him by the help of dogs, as he was striding over the rocks towards the sea. It is said that he weighed 700 pounds, and that his arms were 30 feet in length, and so stout that a man could not embrace them. Still more wonderful are the narrations which were commonly believed about 150 years ago, respecting some Sepias that frequented the coast of Norway. They were then generally called Krakens, and were supposed to be at times nearly a quarter of a mile in length. It is related that sailors not unfrequently mistook them for islands. This is alluded to by Milton in a passage of the Paradise Lost,--