io8 THE SEAS 



the other), long strings of weed, the giant Ribbon-fish, 

 and even a flight of birds in single file just above the 

 water. 



There are real sea snakes, most poisonous inhabitants 

 of certain tropic seas ; but these seldom reach a length of 

 more than two or three yards, and although they are 

 indeed sea " serpents," they are not the sea serpents that 

 we all hope it may be our lot one day to see. There is, 

 however, every possibility that some beast worthy of all 

 that the name implies may still exist in the great depths of 

 the ocean. When we imagine the vast space of the undersea 

 world, stretching for thousands of miles, north, south, east 

 and west, we realize that there are possibilities for the 

 existence of many fearsome monsters ; creatures so powerful 

 as to evade all capture. Of the many tales that have been 

 told, most of which can be almost definitely shown to have 

 arisen through mistaken identity, one at least is worthy of 

 mention. 



In 1906 two naturalists, Messrs. Meade-Waldo and Nicoll, 

 described in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society an 

 animal that they had seen while cruising on December 7th, 

 1905, in the Earl of Crawford's yacht, the Valhalla, off the 

 coast of Brazil. They say : "At first all that could be 

 seen was a dorsal fin about four feet long, sticking up about 

 two feet from the water ; this fin was of a brownish -black 

 colour and much resembled a gigantic piece of ribbon 

 sea weed." Behind the fin under the water could just be 

 made out the form of a considerable body. " Suddenly 

 an eel-like neck about six feet long and of the thickness of a 

 man's thigh, having a head shaped like that of a turtle, 

 appeared in front of the fin." Unfortunately, this curious 

 beast soon disappeared from view and all that may have 

 been seen of it again was on the next night when an animal, 

 which they assert was not a whale, was making such a 



