APPENDIX 319 



species, and which could not exist near the surface, owing to the dis- 

 tention and rupture of their air-bladder when removed from the 

 pressure of deep water. 



"Mr. Gosse mentions that the ship in which he made the voyage 

 to Jamaica was surrounded in the North Atlantic, for seventeen con- 

 tinuous hours, by a troop of whales of large size, of an undescribed 

 species, which on no other occasion has fallen under scientific observa- 

 tion. Unique specimens of other Cetaceans are also recorded. 



"We. have evidence, to which attention has been directed by Mr. 

 A. D. Bartlett, that 'even on land there exists at least one of the 

 largest mammals, probably in thousands, of which only one individual 

 has been brought to notice, namely, the hairy-eared, two-horned 

 rhinoceros (R. Lasiotis\ now in the Zoological Gardens, London. It 

 was captured in 1868, at Chittagong, in India, where for years 

 collectors and naturalists have worked and published lists of the 

 animals met with, and yet no knowledge of this great beast was ever 

 before obtained, nor is there any portion of one in any museum. It 

 remains unique.' 



" I have arrived at the following conclusions : 1. That without 

 straining resemblances, or casting a doubt upon narratives not proved 

 to be erroneous, the various appearances of the supposed 'great sea- 

 serpent ' may now be nearly all accounted for by the forms and habits 

 of known animals ; especially if we admit, as proposed by Dr. Andrew 

 Wilson, that some of them, including the marine snakes, may, like the 

 cuttles, attain to extraordinary size. 2. That to assume that naturalists 

 have perfect cognizance of every existing marine animal of large size, 

 would be quite unwarrantable. It appears to me more than probable 

 that many marine animals, unknown to science, and some of them of 

 gigantic size, may have their ordinary habitat in the sea, and only 

 occasionally come to the surface ; and I think it not impossible that 

 amongst them may be marine snakes of greater dimensions than we 

 are aware of, and even a creature having close affinities with the old 

 sea-reptiles whose fossil skeletons tell of their magnitude and abundance 

 in past ages. 



" It is most desirable that every supposed appearance of ' the Great 

 Sea- Serpent ' shall be faithfully noted and described ; and I hope that 

 no truthful observer will be deterred from reporting such an occurrence 

 by fear of the disbelief of naturalists or the ridicule of witlings." 



