THE ANGLER AND HUNTSMAN 67 



creature, this puzzle to the scientific world, which has be- 

 come known as the Deep Sea Mystery, ever came out of the 

 sea before. 



With the first announcement in the papers of the re- 

 markable capture, Captain Thompson was flooded with 

 letters and telegrams from all over the country asking for 

 descriptions and particulars of the wonder, and the interest 

 became so widespread and insistent that after having the 

 unique specimen preserved at great expense by Prof. J. S. 

 Warmbeth, who was recommended by the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution at Washington, he decided to exhibit the wonder 

 throughout the country, and this he did. 



He had a large sea-going yacht constructed, the entire 

 lower deck being especially designed to accommodate the 

 monster fish, and was made sufficiently large for as many 

 as 500 spectators to view the fish from every side. This 

 palatial yacht was built at a cost of over $30,000. 



The mouth of the Deep Sea Mystery is an enormous 

 cavity 30 inches wide and 54 inches deep, situated right at 

 the end of the snout, and resembles that of a monstrous 

 catfish more than anything else. Inside the mouth is a 

 tongue 40 inches long, and gullet large enough to swallow 

 a giant octopus weighing 400 pounds. It has numerous 

 other characteristics of the true fish, which it undoubtedly 

 is. There are no ribs and in place of a backbone its spinal 

 column consisted of cartilaginous vertebrae, some of which 

 were 13 1-2 inches wide and showing signs of ossification. 

 This was proof beyond doubt that the creature was still un- 

 developed it was a baby of its tribe in fact. 



Naturalists are of the opinion that a full grown speci- 

 men would be two and one-half times as large as the baby 

 captured by Capt. Thompson, and that had this animal liv- 

 ed out its allotted time it would have attained the stupen- 

 dous proportions of 115 feet in length and 20 or 25 feet 

 broad. 



The tail of this creature measures ten feet from tip to 



