Clifton College Scieniijic Sociely. h7 



fislierman, had known tlie Norwegian Coast and Noitli Sea for 

 many years), as well as a friend who was with me, an experienced 

 Norwegian sportsman and porpoise-shooter, saw the sauie appear- 

 ance at the same time, and formed the same opinion as to form 

 and size. 



' I mention my friend being a porpoise-shooter, as many have 

 believed that a shoal of porpoises following each other has given 

 rise to the fable, as they call it, of the sea-serpent.' 



Professor Owen in an article criticised the report of Captain 

 M'Quhae, saying that it was his opinion that the animal seen was 

 a seal that had got drifted into warm latitudes, and that the 

 iceberg on which it had been carried was probably melted when 

 seen by Captain M'Quhse. 



The ground of this conclusion was that the head of the animal 

 in the drawing was not at all like a snake's head, although it was 

 aflBrmed that it was undoubtedly such ; and also because if it had 

 been a serpent its head and neck would have been thrown into 

 motion by its exertions in progression, while it is stated that the 

 closest inspection failed to detect any undulations of the body. 



To this Captain M'Quhge wrote in reply, saying that it was cer- 

 tainly not a seal, its great length, and its totally different physiog- 

 nomy, precluding the possibility of its being such. 



During the last few months several visits of this wonderful 

 animal have been reported. This first short paragraph is taken from 

 the Western Daily Press of October 19, 1871. 



' A correspondent of a London evening paper recently saw at 

 St Lawrence-on-the-Sea, near the Foreland, a huge fish more than 

 fifty feet long. It was swimming at the rate of from forty to fifty 

 miles an hour. The striped back was distinctly seen by aU. 



' Two friends who were with the correspondent at the time were 

 also witnesses of the sea monster's appearance.' 



This next account is from the Limerick Chronicle of the 5th 

 October, 1871. 



' On "Tuesday last, a party of strangers staying at Kilkee, com- 

 posed of several ladies and some gentlemen, one of whom is a 

 well-known clergyman in the north of Ireland, went down to see, 

 among other points of interest, a place known as the " Diamond 

 Rocks," and remained there for some time watching the heavy 

 ground-swell from the Atlantic, which came dashing in with tre- 

 mendous force against the cliffs. The clergyman before mentioned 

 (who is our informant) states, that all of a sudden their attention 

 was arrested by the appearance of an extraordinary monster, who 

 rose from the surface of the water about seventy yards from the 

 place where they were standing ; it had an enormous head, shaped 

 somewhat like a horse, while behind the head and on the neck was 



