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species are known to science, yet they are all of diminutive size in 
comparison with the individual now obtained. Gymnetrus hawkenii, 
G. banksii, and G. glesne are occasionally found in the British Seas. 
‘So little appears to be known of this singular tribe of fishes, that, 
even in the present advanced state of marine zoology, their habits, 
haunts, &c. remain blanks in the book of nature, and will probably 
long continue so, unless opportunities like the present should occur 
to enable us to add new facts to the history of these remarkable 
creatures. 
“The most notable fact, however, in connexion with the capture of 
the present specimen will doubtless be the interest and attraction it 
will produce in the scientific world, for most assuredly we have in 
the specimen now before us many of the peculiarities with which the 
appearance of that hitherto apocryphal monster, the Great Sea Ser- 
pent, as detailed by navigators, is invested. The lengthened fila- 
ments crowning the caput, joined anteriorly by the connecting mem- 
brane and extending to the shoulders, would, viewed from a vessel’s 
deck, present to the spectator the mane so accurately described as a 
singular feature in the gigantic specimen seen by Capt. M‘Quhae, 
R.N., and officers of H.M.S. ‘ Deedalus.’ Then, again, the rapidity 
with which that individual specimen moved through the water would 
coincide with the capabilities of a member of this genus, for the mo- 
tive power produced by such an extent of tail, coupled with the ex- 
tremely compressed form of body from the head throughout, must 
be immense. 
‘‘Here, then, we have a partial elucidation of the various statements 
which have at intervals appeared in the columns of the united presses 
of England and America, emanating from the pens of travellers, and 
usually headed ‘Occurrence of the Great Sea Serpent,’ criticised, 
however, in an ungenerous manner, and always exposed to an un- 
merited ridicule at the hands of the many, but nevertheless firmly 
believed in by the few, who have patiently waited to see the day 
when the mystic cloud which has hitherto veiled the existence of the 
maned denizen of the deep should vanish with the suspicion of the 
seeptic, and exhibit more clearly the truth of the assertions of those 
ill-used men, who, endeavouring like useful members of society to 
extend the cause of natural knowledge by publishing candid accounts 
of what their eyes have seen, have always met with an amount of 
contempt and reproach sufficient to silence for ever the pen of many 
a truthful writer. 
“T am sorry I have not the number of the ‘ Illustrated London 
News’ at hand in which Capt. M‘Quhae’s graphic statement ap- 
peared, as it would have afforded me an opportunity of particulari- 
zing other features in connexion with his specimen and the present 
one. The facts, however, regarding the mane-like appendage, and 
the rapidity of motion to which I have alluded, are still fresh in my 
memory. , 
** My best thanks are due to Mr. George Trimingham, the capturer, 
for the generous manner in which he placed the fish at my disposal.” 
