'THE GREAT SEA SERPENT: 261 



refrained from giving it a name. Very similar was the 

 verdict on the more recent object seen from the Osborne in 

 1877 ; but in those thirty intervening years a vast stride had 

 been made in zoological knowledge; and in the very able 

 papers written on this later phenomenon, we now find a 

 general disposition to accept the fact that there are gigantic 

 forms of marine animals existing, that have not as yet 

 been scientifically described and received into systematic 

 zoology, 



Mr. A. D. Bartlett, in the discussion already alluded to, 

 after dispassionately reviewing and criticizing the evidence of 

 H.M.'s officers, thus concludes: — 



' When we consider the vast extent of the ocean, its great depth, the rocky, 

 cavernous nature of the bottom, — of many parts of which we know really nothing, 

 — who can say what may be hidden for ages, and may still remain a mystery for 

 generations yet to come ; for we have evidence on land that there exists some of 

 the largest mammals, probably by thousands, of which only one solitary indi- 

 vidual has been caught or brought to notice. I allude to the Hairy-eared Two- 

 horned Rhinoceros (A', lasiotis), captured in 1868 at Chittagong (where it was 

 found stranded in the mud), and now known as an inhabitant of the Zoological 

 Gardens. 



* This animal remains unique, and no part or portion was previously known to 

 exist in any museum at home or abroad. 



' (We have here an instance of the existence of a species found on the con- 

 tinent of India, where for many years collectors and naturalists have worked and 

 published lists of all the animals met with, and have hitherto failed to meet with 

 or obtain any knowledge of this great beast.) 



'May I not therefore presume that in the vast and mighty ocean, animal?, 

 perhaps of nocturnal habits (and therefore never, except by some extraordinary 

 accident, forced into sight), may exist, whose form may resemble the extinct rep- 

 tiles whose fossil remains we find in such abundance. 



' As far as I am able to judge from the evidence before me, I have reason to 

 believe that aquatic reptiles of vast size have been seen and described by those 

 persons who have endeavoured to explain what they have witnessed. 



* One thing is certain, that many well-known reptiles have the power of re- 

 maining for long periods (months, in fact) at the bottom, under water or imbedded 

 in soft mud, being so provided with organs of circulation and respiration that they 

 need not come to the surface to breathe. The large crocodiles, alligators, and 



