430 A NATURALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER." 



comparatively recent. Less civilized races make no such dis- 

 tinction. To the Dyack, the great ape of Borneo, is simply 

 the Man of the Woods, " Orang Utan." 



The belief in various mythical animals in England is still 

 very strong. We are probably not far in advance of the Chinese 

 in this matter. So strong is the belief, that several of the 

 animals in question could not be mentioned here without pre- 

 judice. The Sea Serpent, however, is always open to criticism. 

 This wonderful animal has hardly ever been seen alike by any 

 two sets of observers. It is nearly always easy to a naturalist 

 to understand the stories told. Sometimes it is a pair of whales 

 that is seen ; sometimes, as when the animal was seen off the 

 Scotch coast, and figured in the " Illustrated London News," 

 a long mass of floating seaweed deceives the distant observer ; 

 sometimes the Serpent has large eyes and a crest behind the 

 head, then it is a Eibbon Fish* (Gymnetrus). 



I myself am one of the few professed naturalists who have 

 seen the Serpent. It was on a voyage to Rotterdam from the 

 Thames. An old gentleman suddenly started up, shouting, 

 " There's the Sea Serpent ! " gesticulating with his umbrella. 

 All the passengers crowded to the ship's side and gazed with 

 astonishment at a black line, undulating with astonishing 

 rapidity along the water at some distance. It was a flock of 

 Cormorants, which was flying in line behind the waves, and 

 which was viewed in the intervals between them with a sort 

 of thaumoscopic effect. 



The extremely untrustworthy nature of the descriptions sent 

 home is a constant feature in the natural history of the Sea 

 Serpent. Not long ago he was seen near Singapore (evidently 

 a very large Cuttle fish on this occasion). He was described as 

 with large eyes, spotted with brown, and without arms or legs, 

 but with a very long tail, and was yet said to be like a frog. 



Ordinary sailors know nothing about whales or fish, and 

 easily imagine they see wonders. Often, of course, the Sea 

 Serpent stories are entirely without foundation in fact, and 



* As first, I believe, pointed out by Mr. J. M. Jones, F.L.S., in " An 

 Account of a Eibbon Fish, 16 ft. 7 ins. in length, obtained at Bermuda." 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1860. p. 187. 



