

STRANGE SEA CREATURES. 217 



zoologist can adduce any instances to the contrary. It is in 

 fact physically impossible that such instances should exist 



It would not be saying too much to assert that if the so- 

 called sea-serpent were really a serpent, its entire length 

 must be nearer 1000 than 100 feet This, of course, is 

 utterly incredible. We are, therefore, forced to the belief 

 that the creature is not a serpent If it were a long-necked 

 reptile, with a concealed body much bulkier than the neck, 

 the requirements of floatation would be satisfied ; if to that 

 body there were attached powerful paddles, the requirements 

 of propulsion would be satisfied. The theory, then, sug- 

 gested, first by Mr. Newman, later but independently by Mr. 

 Stirling, and advocated since by several naturalists of repute, 

 is simply that the so-called sea-serpent is a modern represen- 

 tative of the long-necked plesiosaurian reptile to which has 

 been given the name of the tnaliosaurus. Creatures of this 

 kind prevailed in that era when what is called the lias was 

 formed, a fossiliferous stratum belonging to the secondary or 

 mesozoic rocks. They are not found in the later or tertiary 

 rocks, and thereon an argument might be deduced against 

 their possible existence in the present, or post-tertiary, 

 period ; but, as will presently be shown, this argument is far 

 from being conclusive. The enaliosaurian reptiles were 

 "extraordinary," says Lyell, "for their number, size, and 

 structure." Like the ichthyosauri, or fish-lizards, the enalio- 

 sauri (or serpent-turtles, as they might almost be called) 

 were carnivorous, their skeletons often enclosing the fossilized 

 remains of half-digested fishes. They had extremely long 

 necks, with heads very small compared with the body. They 

 are supposed to have lived chiefly in narrow seas and 

 estuaries, and to have breathed air like the modem whales 

 and other aquatic mammals. Some of them were of formid- 

 able dimensions, though none of the skeletons yet discovered 

 indicate a length of more than 35 feet It is not, however, 

 at all likely that the few skeletons known indicate the full 

 size attained by these creatures. Probably, indeed, we have 

 the remains of only a few out of many species, and some 



