Proceedings. 87 



size of the bole of a tree, and was dark brown or black, 

 streaked with white. 



On August 6th, 1848, at 5 p.m., the crew of the 'Daedalus' 

 frigate, when between the Cape of Good Hope and St. Helena, 

 saw a Sea Serpent for twenty minutes. They described 

 having seen sixty feet of the Serpent's body on the surface of 

 the sea, with the head and shoulders raised about four feet 

 above the surface. The neck behind the head was fifteen or 

 sixteen inches in diameter. It had a mane like a horse's, and 

 no fins. It swam against a cross-sea at a rate of ten miles 

 an hour, at a distance of 200 yards from the ' Daedalus.' Its 

 eye, mouth, and nostrils were clearly seen. 



Apropos of the 'Daedalus' Sea Serpent, Mr. R. Davidson 

 wrote to the 'Bombay Times' of January, 1849, stating that 

 in the year 1829, when on his voyage to India in the ' Royal 

 Saxon,' when S.W. of the Cape of Good Hope, he and Capt. 

 Petrie saw a similar animal swimming within thirty-five yards 

 of the ship, with a third of its length above water. 



In 1875 the captain, officers and men on board the barque 

 'Pauline' watched a Sea Serpent for a quarter of an hour 

 twined round a Sperm Whale, which it eventually succeeded 

 in dragging to the bottom. 



Without wishing to express a decided opinion, Mr. Brackett 

 suggested that all the above descriptions point to the existence 

 of a huge Saurian, possibly a species of Plesiosaurus. 



Mr. W. H. Tyndall read ' Notes on Meteorology of Red- 

 hill FOB 1888 ' : — 



The general aspect of the year has not been genial. More 

 rain has fallen than in 1887, and the temperature of the 

 summer months has been below the average, in July especially. 



Barometee. — The pressure reached 30 in. on 196 days, 

 in place of 223 in 1887 ; 29 in. on 168 days, in place of 

 139 days in 1887 ; it fell below 29 in. oa 2 days, in place 

 of 3 in 1887. 



The Thermometer fell to the freeziag-point or below on 9 1 

 nights, in place of 101 nights in 1887 ; but it rose to or over 

 70'" on 28 days only in 1888, against 53 days in 1887, and it rose 



