73 



in a place too remote for its careful examination by qualified 

 persons before natural decay and the action of the sea had 

 mutilated the carcase. I do not think that all the appear- 

 ances recorded of late years (granting their authenticity) 

 have been those of the same creature. Some of them may 

 probably be properly assigned to the family of cetacea, of 

 which it is confessed, by the best naturalists of the present 

 day, that we have but a very inaccurate knowledge." 



A great number of very interesting facts in Zoology 

 were noticed and examined ; particularly the finding of a 

 gigantic marine animal, previously unknown and undes- 

 cribed, by the Eev. Mr. McClean, Parish Minister of 

 Eigg, one of the Western Islands of Scotland. 



" It puts beyond doubt the existence of some class of 

 large marine animals corresponding, in the most essential 

 particulars (allowing for the difference between the dis- 

 tant view of the living creature under circumstances of fear 

 and excitement), with most of the appearances referred to. 

 The rarity of their appearance is not without parallels in 

 the annals of ichthyology." 



