[5] Nat.  Hist.  Norway.

Blumenbach has some sensible observations on this subject.  When all that has been said about it is carefully examined, it is clear that various circumstances have given rise to the misconception.  Much of it is applicable to the whale;[6] much is referable to thick, low, fog-banks, which even experienced seamen have mistaken for land,[7] an opinion coinciding with what has been said of this same Kraken, by a Latin author of considerable antiquity.

    [6] See, for instance, the narrative of an accident from the
    rising of such an animal, in W. Tench’s “Account of the
    Settlement at Port Jackson.”

    [7] See a remarkable instance in Voyage de la Perouse autour du
    Monde, vol. iii. p. 10.

* * * * *

We are persuaded that our readers will be delighted with these attractive facts in the history of the Mantis and Starfish.  The Illustrations themselves are extremely interesting and effective; but in order to gratify the admirer of Art as well as the lover of Nature, we have selected for the Supplement published with this Number, a splendid Engraving of the city of Verona, from a Drawing by the late J.P.  Bonington.

* * * * *

CATS.

(To the Editor of the Mirror.)

Having read an interesting account of the “Veneration of Cats in ancient days,” in a recent number of your entertaining and useful publication, I am induced to send you the following respecting the part they formed in the religious worship of the middle ages:—­

In Mills’s “History of the Crusades”, we meet with the following:—­“At Aix in Provence, on the festival of Corpus Christi, the finest tom cat of the country, wrapped in swaddling clothes like a child, was exhibited in a magnificent shrine to public admiration.  Every knee was bent, every hand strewed flowers or poured incense, and grimalkin was treated in all respects as the god of the day.  But on the festival of St. John, poor tom’s fate was reversed.  A number of the tabby tribe were put into a wicker basket, and thrown alive into the midst of an immense fire kindled in the public square by the bishop and his clergy.  Hymns and anthems were sung, and processions were made by the priests and people in honour of the sacrifice.”

It is well known that cats formed a conspicuous part in the old religion of the Egyptians, who under the form of a cat, symbolized the moon or Isis, and placed it upon their Systrum, an instrument of religious worship and divination.

Cats are supposed to have been first brought to England by some merchants from the Island of Cyprus, who came hither for fur.

The prices and value of cats and kittens, mentioned by your correspondent, P.T.W. were fixed by that excellent prince, Hoel dda, or Howel the Good. Vide Leges Wallicae, p. 427 and 428.