z 3 o PLEASANT WA YS IN SCIENCE. 



white beneath, with swimming paws white on the upper 

 surface. Here, he says, was " a whale of large size, occur- 

 ring in great numbers in the North Atlantic, which on no 

 other occasion has fallen under scientific observation. The 

 toothless whale of Havre, a species actually inhabiting the 

 British Channel, is only known from a single specimen 

 accidentally stranded on the French coast; and another 

 whale, also British, is known only from a single specimen 

 cast ashore on the Elgin roast, and there seen and described 

 by the naturalist Sowerby. 



Dr. Andrew Wilson, in an interesting paper, in which he 

 maintains that sea-serpent tales are not to be* treated with 

 derision, but are worthy of serious consideration, " supported 

 as they are by zoological science, and in the actual details 

 of the case by evidence as trustworthy in many cases as that 

 received in our courts of law," expresses the opinion that ple- 

 siosauri and ichthyosauri have been unnecessarily disinterred 

 to do duty for the sea-serpents. But he offers as an alter- 

 native only the ribbon-fish ; and though some of these may 

 attain enormous dimensions, yet we have seen that some of 

 the accounts of the supposed sea-serpent, and especially 

 the latest narrative by the captain and crew of the Pauline, 

 cannot possibly be explained by any creature so flat and 

 relatively so feeble as the ribbon-fish. 



On the whole, it appears to me that a very strong case 

 has been made out for the enaliosaurian, or serpent-turtle, 

 theory of the so-called sea-serpent 



One of the ribbon-fish mentioned by Dr. Wilson, which 

 was captured, and measured more than 60 feet in length, 

 might however fairly take its place among strange sea crea- 

 tures. I scarcely know whether to add to the number a 

 monstrous animal like a tadpole, or even more perhaps like a 

 gigantic skate, 200 feet in length, said to have been seen in 

 the Malacca Straits by Captain Webster and Surgeon Ander- 

 son, of the ship Nestor. Perhaps, indeed, this monster, mis- 

 taken in the first instance for a shoal, but presently found 

 to be travelling along at the rate of about ten knots .in hour, 



