The old stories of colossal cuttle-fishes, though gross exaggerations, are “founded on facts.” They are based on the rare occurrence of specimens, smaller certainly, but still enormous, of some known species. The means of observation on the duration of growth and life in the cephalopods have been, of course, difficult to obtain; but, from watching the rate of increase of size in young specimens, De Ferussac, D’Orbigny, and other naturalists have arrived at the conclusion that they sometimes live for many years, and continue to grow till the end of their lives. That some of them, therefore, should attain to a considerable magnitude is hardly surprising. Passing over the earlier records of the appearance of cuttle-fishes of unusual size, and the current as well as traditional belief in their existence by the inhabitants of many countries, let us take the testimony of travellers and naturalists, who have a right to be regarded as competent observers. Peron,[39] the well-known French zoologist, mentions having seen at sea, in 1801, not far from Van Diemen’s Land, at a very little distance from his ship, “_Le Géographe_,” a sepia (calamary?) of the size of a barrel, rolling with noise on the waves; its arms, between 6 and 7 feet long, and 6 or 7 inches in diameter at the base, extended on the surface, and writhing about like great snakes. Quoy and Gaimard[40] report that in the Atlantic Ocean, near the equator, they found the remains of an enormous calamary, half-eaten by the sharks and birds, which could not have weighed less, when entire, than 200lbs. Captain Sander Rang[41] records having fallen in with, in mid-ocean, a species distinct from the others, of a dark red colour, having short arms, and a body the size of a hogshead. Molina, in his “Natural History of Chili,” describes, amongst other species of cuttle-fishes, one, which he calls _Sepia tunicata_, and of which he says some specimens, armed with hooks in their suckers, weighed 150lbs.