BY SAMUEL GARMAN. 53 



Remarks. Such an animal as that described is very 

 likely to unsettle disbelief in what is popularly called the 

 " sea serpent. " Though it could hardly on examination 

 be taken for anything but a shark, its appearance in the 

 forward portion of the body, particularly in the head, 

 brings vividly to mind the triangular heads, deep-cleft 

 mouths, and fierce looks of many of our most dreaded 

 snakes. In view of the possible discoveries of the future, 

 the fact of the existence of such creatures, so recently un- 

 discovered, certainly calls for a suspension of judgment 

 in regard to the non-existence of that oft-appearing but 

 elusive creature, the serpent-like monster of the oceans. 



Generally the attitude of ichthyologists in respect to the 

 belief in unknown sea monsters is much the same ; they 

 are inclined to accept it but are waiting more definite in- 

 formation. A couple of years ago Professor Baird in a 

 conversation on the subject drew a sketch of a strange 

 creature, captured and thrown away by a fisherman on 

 the coast of Maine, which might be readily considered by 

 the ordinary observer as a form of " the serpent. " It 

 was some twenty-four feet in length, ten inches in diame- 

 ter, eel-like in shape, possessed of a single dorsal placed 

 near the head, and had three gill openings. The question 

 was "is it a shark? " In several respects it resembled an 

 eel rather more. An outline and the correspondence in 

 relation to it have recently been published in the Proceed- 

 ings of the Fish Commission. 



Notwithstanding the possession of peculiarities which 

 prevent its entrance into any of the known families of the 

 order, the subject of the present communication is a verit- 

 able shark. A diameter of less than four inches to a 

 length of five feet marks one of the slenderest of the tribe. 

 Whether it attains much greater length we can only judge, 



