GREAT SEA-SERPENT. 321 



to the apocryphal animal on which we are now 

 dwelling. The Boston Society of Natural His- 

 tory has the merit of having first brought this Ser- 

 pent under the notice of Zoologists, and the commit- 

 tee who described it unhesitatingly regarded it as a 

 specimen of one of the young of the Great Sea-Ser- 

 pent. It was seen and killed in September 1817, 

 near Sandy Bay, between a salt lake and the sea, at 

 no great distance from the shore, and was speedily 

 brought to Boston for the examination of the So- 

 ciety. It was a yard long all but half an inch. The 

 contour of the back exhibited its most singular fea- 

 ture, for here was found a waving line, produced by 

 a series of permanent risings, which commenced 

 near the head, and extended, almost without inter- 

 ruption, to the tail, their total number being forty. 

 The body could be bent with the greatest facility in 

 the vertical direction, especially at the undulations, 

 but not without great difficulty latterly. The Society 

 applied to this animal the nameofScoliophisAtlanti- 

 cus, of which, at the conclusion of this chapter, we sub- 

 join a representation. M. de Blainville, in analyzing 

 the various documents which have been published 

 concerning this Serpent, remarks " That a new 

 species of Serpent has been discovered in America, 

 which is really very singular, especially as it regards 

 its vertebral column, ribs, and mode of progression, 

 appears certain ; but that this small Serpent is pre- 

 cisely of the same species as the great marine ani- 

 mal which has appeared off the coast, and whose 



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