I 



PE0FE3S0E Owen's ceiticisms. 323 



sixteen inches behind the head ; its colour a dark brown, 

 with yellowish white about the throat No fins were 

 seen, (the captain says there were none ; but from his 

 own account, he did not see enough of the animal to 

 prove his negative.) ' Something like the mane of a 

 horse, or rather a bunch of sea-weed washed about its 

 back' So much of the body as was seen was ' not used 

 in propelling the animal through the water, either by 

 vertical or horizontal undulation/ A calculation of its 

 length was made imder a strong preconception of the 

 nature of the beast. The head, e. g., is stated to be, ' with- 

 out any doubt, that of a snake ; ' and yet a snake would 

 be the last species to which a naturalist, conversant with 

 the forms and characters of the heads of animals, would 

 refer such a head as that of which Captain M'Quhse has 

 transmitted a drawing to the Admiralty, and which he 

 certifies to have been accurately copied in the Illustrated 

 London Xeivs for October 28, 1848, p. 265. Your Lord- 

 ship will observe, that no sooner was the captain's atten- 

 tion called to the object, than ' it was discovered to be an 

 enormous serpent,' and yet the closest inspection of as 

 much of the body as was visible, d fieur deau, failed to 

 detect any undulations of the body, although such actions 

 constitute the very character which would distinguish a 

 serpent or serpentiform swimmer from any other marine 

 species. The foregone conclusion, therefore, of the beast's 

 being a sea-serpent, notwithstanding its capacious vaulted 

 cranium, and stiff, inflexible trunk, must be kept in mind 

 in estimating the value of the approximation made to the 

 total length of the animal, as ' (at the very least) sixty 



