MAY 121 



the great sea-serpent. The body is lithe and serpen- 

 tine, or ribbon-like ; the back is covered along its 

 whole length by a crimson dorsal fin resembling the 

 ' mane ' so often mentioned in accounts of the sea- 

 serpent, and the lofty frontal crest is a feature often 

 described to more or less sympathetic listeners by 

 those who claim to have seen that semi-mythical 

 creature. 



The mere mention of the great sea-serpent may 

 raise a smile of incredulity, and I am not going to 

 take up the cudgels on either side of the venerable 

 controversy which rages periodically round what is 

 either a myth or a monster ; but it is impossible not 

 to note salient points of similarity between the animal 

 we know, and the description of a phenomenon not 

 yet either demonstrated or demolished by modern 

 science. 



First, as to size : the sea-serpent is usually described 

 as immense, whereas the oar-fish recovered on May 

 23rd, 1908, was only 13 J feet long. Of the five- 

 and-twenty specimens reported from British waters 

 during the last hundred years, the largest was that 

 taken in a salmon net near Buckie in August 1884. 

 It measured only 17 feet 1 inch long, but there 

 is no means of knowing to what size animals of this 

 species may attain. Among creatures possessing such 

 a plastic organism as fishes there are many species 

 which conform to no standard of size. The trout, 

 which, in a Scottish burn, may never exceed fingerling 

 stature, if transported to New Zealand waters may grow 

 to a weight of thirty or forty pounds. Adult salmon 



