e^iraordinary Marine Animal or Sea Serpent. 301 



he observed a body floating on the surface of the water, which 

 was at first mistaken by himself and his seamen for an inflated 

 seal's skin, such as the Esquimaux employ in the destruction 

 of large aquatic animals, by attaching it to the harpoon by 

 which they are speared, and thus tiring them out by its float- 

 ing property. On a nearer approach, however, the object 

 which had excited attention proved to be a living marine 

 animal. The creature is still in the possession of Captain 

 Sawyer, who preserved it in rum soon after being taken. Its 

 capture was occasioned by its being, when first observed, al- 

 most worn out by unavailing efforts to gorge a species of perch 

 of about seven inches in circumference, with which it appeared 

 to have been long contending, as it exhibited very feeble signs 

 of life. The organs of motion being extremely small, and its 

 body greatly elongated, this creature would on a cursory view 

 be by all considered as an extraordinary kind of sea serpent,, 

 and this idea is supported by a more close examination. ; 



Its body is one uniform purplish black, except the filamen- 

 tous extremity of the tail, which is much lighter. The total 

 length is four feet six inches. The enlarged, and extremely 

 elastic pharynx, communicates with an enormous sac or air- 

 vessel, extending in length from the extremity of the snout 

 about twenty inches. When partially filled with air, this sac 

 measured about nine inches in circumference below its union 

 with the tail, and its greatest diameter, including the slender 

 body to which it pertained, was four inches. The use of this 

 enormous pouch Dr Harwood is not able to discover. 



The skin all over the body of the Ophiognathus is particu- 

 larly soft and slimy, yet it has a slight granular appearance. 

 The spiracles, which are five and a-half inches from the snout, 

 are large and of an irregular oval form. All the fins are ex- 

 tremely small, the pectorals being composed of an adipose 

 disc, which is terminated and nearly surrounded by a narrow 

 radiated membrane. The dorsal fin, which like the rest is very 

 narrow and provided with simple rays, commences at about 

 eighteen inches from the snout, and terminates insensibly upon 

 that slender tape-like filament into which the tail becomes con- 

 verted, and which is continued twenty and a-half inches in length 

 beyond the posterior extremity of the dorsal fin. About this 



VOL. Vlir. NO. II. APRIL 1828. u 



