Note 2216 — BOOK IX. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF FISHES.

Cuvier suggests that the idea of such an animal as the one here mentioned, probably took its rise in the kind of sea star-fish, now known as Medusa’s head, the Asterias of Linnæus; but that the enormous size here attributed to it, has no foundation whatever in reality. He remarks also, that the inhabitants of the north of Europe, have similar stories relative to a huge polypus, which they call the “kraken.” We may, however, be allowed to observe, that the “kraken,” or “korven,” mentioned by good bishop Pontoppidan, bears a closer resemblance to the so-called “sea-serpent,” than to anything of the polypus or sepia genus.