THE SEA-SERPENTS OF SCIENCE. 117 



beyond the limits of the vessel at stem and stern. The 

 smack was a vessel of forty tons burthen, and the length 

 may therefore be safely estimated at sixty feet, this measure- 

 ment being exceeded by the ribbon-fish. The breadth of 

 the fish measured from five to nine inches, and the dorsal 

 fin was from six to seven inches in depth. Unfortunately, 

 Lord Norbury seemed inclined to view the giant he had 

 captured with distrust, and ordered the fish to be cut in 

 pieces and thrown overboard ; but it is also worthy of re- 

 mark that the trawlers seemed to express no great surprise 

 at the size of Lord Norbury's " specimen, since they asserted 

 that they had met with one much larger, this latter being 

 coloured of a dirty-brown hue. 



It is interesting to note that the details furnished in the 

 following account taken from the Times of June 14, 1877 

 of a marine monster having been seen in the Mediter- 

 ranean Sea, appear to be explicable on the ideas just men- 

 tioned regarding the tape-fishes. The account is furnished 

 by observers whose veracity it would simply be impertinent 

 to question : " The Osborne, 2, paddle royal yacht, Com- 

 mander Hugh L. Pearson, which arrived at Portsmouth 

 from the Mediterranean on Monday, and at once proceeded 

 to her moorings in the harbour, has forwarded an official 

 report to the Admiralty, through the commander-in-chief 

 (Admiral Sir George Elliot, K.C.B.), respecting a sea monster 

 which she encountered during her homeward voyage. At 

 about five o'clock in the afternoon of the 2nd instant, the 

 sea being exceptionally calm, while the yacht was proceed- 

 ing round the north coast of Sicily towards Cape Vito, the 

 officer on the watch observed a long ridge of fins, each 

 about six feet long, moving slowly along. He called for a 

 telescope, and was at once joined by other officers. The 

 Osborne was steaming westward at ten and a half knots an 

 hour, and, having a long passage before her, could not stay 

 to make minute observations. The fins were progressing 

 in an eastwardly direction, and as the vessel more nearly 

 approached them, they were replaced by the foremost part of 



