190 THE SEA. 



of some sixty feet or more, and you would have before you almost the very counterpart 

 of the apparition that wrought such amazement on board the Dadaliis. 



In evidence of the existence of such an animal, Captain the Hon. George Hope states 

 that when in H.M.S. Fly, in the Gulf of California, the sea being perfectly smooth 

 and clear, he saw at the bottom a large marine animal with the head and general figure 

 of an alligator, except that the neck was much longer, and that, instead of legs, the animal 

 had four large flappers, something like those of turtles. 



The two strong objections to this theory are first, the hypothetical improbability of 

 such forms having been transmitted from the era of the secondary strata to the present 

 time; and, second, the entire absence of any parts of the carcases or unfossilised skeletons 

 of such animals in museums. Many fossil types, however, of marine animals have been 

 transmitted, with or without interruption, from remote geological epochs to the present time ; 

 among these may be mentioned the Port Jackson Shark (Cestracion] , and the gar-pike 

 (Lepidosteus), which have come down to us without interruption, the Chimoera percopsis of 

 Lake Superior, and soft-shelled tortoises (Trionychidce], with more or less apparent dis- 

 appearance. The non-occurrence of dead animals is of little weight as disproving the 

 existence of the sea-serpent; its carcase would float only a short time, and the rock-bound 

 coasts of Norway would be very unlikely to retain any fragment cast up by the waves ; many 

 whales being known to naturalists only from two or three specimens in many centuries. 



The conclusion of the best naturalists is that the existence of the sea-serpent is possibly 

 a verity, and that it may prove to be some modified type of the secondary Enalioscmrians^ 

 or possibly some intermediate form between them and the elongated Cetaceans. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



BY THE SEA-SHORE. 



English Appreciation of the Sea-side Its Variety and Interest Heavy Weather The Green "Waves On the Cliffs The 

 Sea from there Madame de Gasparin's Reveries Description of a Tempest The Voice of God Calm A Great 

 Medusa off the Coast Night on the Sea Boating Excursion In a Cavern Colonies of Sea-anemones Rock Pools 

 Southey's Description -Treasures for the Aquarium A Rat Story Rapid Influx of Tide and its Dangers Melancholy 

 Fate of a Family Life Under Water. 



" In hollows of the tide-worn reef, 

 Left at low water glistening in the sun, 

 Pellucid pools, and rocks in miniature, 

 With their small fry of fishes, crushed shells, 

 Rich mosses, tree-like sea-weed, sparkling pebbles, 

 Enchant the eye, and tempt the eager hand 

 To violate the fairy paradise." 



THE sea-side is nowhere more thoroughly appreciated than in our own rock and water girt 

 island, as the popularity of so many of our coast watering-places fully attests. The wonders 



