“It is difficult,” writes he, “for those who have not seen it to believe in the existence of the devil‐fish. Compared to this creature the ancient hydras are insignificant. At times we are tempted to imagine that the vague forms which float in our dreams may encounter in the realm of the Possible attractive forces, having power to fix their lineaments, and shape living beings out of these creatures of our slumbers.... “If terror were the object of its creation, nothing could be more perfect than the devil‐fish. “The whale has enormous bulk, the devil‐fish is comparatively small; the tararaca makes a hissing noise, the devil‐fish is mute; the rhinoceros has a horn, the devil‐fish has none; the scorpion has a dart, the devil‐fish has no dart; the shark has sharp fins, the devil‐fish has no fins; the vespertilio‐bat has wings with claws, the devil‐fish has no wings; the porcupine has his spines, the devil‐fish has no spines; the sword‐fish has his sword, the devil‐fish has no sword; the torpedo has its electric spark, the devil‐fish has none; the toad has its poison, the devil‐fish has none; the viper has its venom, the devil‐fish has no venom; the lion has its talons, the devil‐fish has no talons; the griffon has its beak, the devil‐fish has no beak; the crocodile has its jaws, the devil‐fish has no teeth. “The devil‐fish has no muscular organisation, no menacing cry, no breastplate, no horn, no dart, no claw, no tail with which to hold or bruise, no cutting fins, or wings with nails, no prickles, no sword, no electric discharge, no poison, no talons, no beak, no teeth. Yet he is, of all creatures, the most formidably armed. What, then, is the devil‐fish? It is the sea‐vampire. “The swimmer who, attracted by the beauty of the spot, ventures among breakers in the open sea, where the still waters hide the splendours of the deep, or in the hollows of unfrequented rocks, in unknown caverns abounding in sea‐plants, testacea and crustacea, under the deep portals of the ocean, runs the risk of meeting it. If that fate should be yours, be not curious, but fly. The intruder enters there dazzled, but quits the spot in terror. “This frightful apparition, which is always possible among the rocks in the open sea, is a greyish form which undulates in the water. It is the thickness of a man’s arm, and its length nearly five feet. Its outline is ragged. Its form resembles an umbrella closed, and without handle. This irregular mass advances slowly towards you. Suddenly it opens, and eight radii issue abruptly from around a face with two eyes. These radii are alive; their undulation is like lambent flames; they resemble, when opened, the spokes of a wheel of four or five feet in diameter. A terrible expansion! It springs upon its prey. “The devil‐fish harpoons its victim.