Misceliajieous. 459 



the imagination to the satisfaction of the judgement. I am far from 

 insensible to the pleasures of the discovery of a new and rare animal, 

 but before I can enjoy them, certain conditions, e. g. reasonable proof 

 or evidence of its existence, must be fulfilled. I am also far from 

 undervaluing the information which Captain M'Quhae has given us 

 of what he saw. When fairly analysed, it lies in a small compass ; 

 but my knowledge of the animal kingdom compels me to draw other 

 conclusions from the phsenomena than those which the gallant cap - 

 tain seems to have jumped at. He evidently saw a large animal 

 moving rapidly through the water, very different from anything he 

 had before witnessed — neither a whale, a grampus, a great shark, 

 an alligator, nor any other of the larger surface-swimming creatures 

 "which are fallen in with in ordinary voyages. He writes, " On our 

 attention being called to the object, it was discovered to be an 

 enormous serpent" (read " animal"), "with the head and shoulders 

 kept about four feet constantly above the surface of the sea. 'I'he 

 diameter of the serpent" (animal) "was about 15 or 16 inches 

 behind the head; its colour a dark brown, with yellowish white 

 about the throat." No fins were seen (the captain says there were 

 none ; but from his own account he did not see enough of the 

 animal to prove his negative). " Something like the mane of a horse, 

 or rather a bunch of sea- weed washed about its back." So much of 

 the body as was seen was " not used in propelling the animal through 

 the water, either by vertical or horizontal undulation." A calcu- 

 lation of its length was made under a strong preconception of the 

 nature of the beast. The head, e. g. is stated to be " without any 

 doubt that of a snake ; " and yet a snake would be the last sj^ecies 

 to which a naturalist conversant with the forms and characters of 

 the heads of animals would refer such a head as that of which Cap- 

 tain M'Quhae has transmitted a drawing to the Admiralty, and 

 which he certifies to have been accurately copied in the * Illustrated 

 London News' for October 28, 1848, p. 265. Your Lordship will 

 observe, that no sooner was the captain's attention called to the 

 object than " it was discovered to be an enormous serpent," and yet 

 the closest inspection of as much of the body as was visible, afieur 

 d'eauy failed to detect any undulations of the body, although such 

 actions constitute the very character which would distinguish a ser- 

 pent or serpentiform swimmer from any other marine species. The 

 foregone conclusion, therefore, of the beast's being a sea-serpent, 

 notwithstanding its capacious vaulted cranium and stiflf" inflexible 

 trunk, must be kept in mind in estimating the value of the approxi- 

 mation made to the total length of the animal, as "at the very least 

 60 feet." This is the only part of the description, however, w^hich 

 seems to me to be so uncertain as to be inadmissible in an attempt 

 to arrive at a right conclusion as to the nature of the animal. The 

 more certain characters of the animal are these : — Head, with a 

 convex, moderately capacious cranium, short obtuse muzzle, gape of 

 the mouth not extending further than to beneath the eye, which is 

 rather small, round, filling closely the palpebral aperture ; colour 

 dark brown above, vellowish white beneath ; surface smooth, with- 



