414 WHALES, SEALS, AND SEA-SERPENTS 



of the Pinnipedia, in near alliance to the eared or fur 

 seals. We know that closely allied to these same 

 Pinnipeds was a certain gigantic creature of the 

 Tertiary Period viz., Zeuglodon, or Basilosaurus as 

 it was first called. This great mammal, with small 

 head, serrate teeth, long neck, and huge, more or less 

 whalelike body, would, if we could believe it still to 

 linger on in existing oceans, be a sea-serpent indeed. 



But whether the great sea-serpent be a giant cuttle- 

 fish or Zeuglodont mammal, ,or whatever else it may 

 be, to meet it on the high seas, with opportunity to 

 observe, sketch, and photograph it, is something for 

 which the seafaring traveller may reasonably keep a 

 sharp lookout, that he may see this marvel of all 

 marvels of the great waters, and may so help further 

 to transmute this old tradition into the language of 

 prosaic science. 



