THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



acteristics, the orbit is very large; and, in this 

 respect, as well as in having short paws or flap- 

 pers, the descriptions of the Northern sea-serpents 

 agree with the supposed appearance of some of 

 the antediluvian species." This important identi- 

 fication had been suggested (probably, however, 

 without Mr. Stirling's knowledge) nearly two 

 years before, by Mr. E. Newman, F.L.S., the able 

 editor of the Zoologist* 



The most valuable portion of Mr. Stirling's 

 communication is its closing paragraph:— '"In 

 concluding this hurried statement, allow me to 

 add my own testimony as to the existence of a 

 large fish or reptile of cylindrical form. (I will 

 not say sea-serpent.) Three years ago, while be- 

 calmed in a yacht between Bergen and Sogn in 

 Norway, I saw (at about a quarter of a mile 

 astern) what appeared to be a large fish ruffling 

 the otherwise smooth surface of the fjord, and, on 

 looking attentively, I observed what looked like 

 the convolutions of a snake. I immediately got 

 my glass, and distinctly made out three convolu- 

 tions, which drew themselves slowly through the 

 water; the greatest diameter was about ten or 

 twelve inches. No head was visible, and from the 

 size of each convolution I supposed the length to 

 be about thirty feet. The master of my yacht, 

 (who, as navigator, seaman, and fisherman, had 

 known the Norwegian coast and North Sea for 

 many years,) as well as a friend who was with 

 me, an experienced Norwegian sportsman and 

 porpoise shooter, saw the same appearance at the 

 same time, and formed the same opinion as to 



* To the philosophic candour with which the Zoologist has been 

 opened to reports and discussions on such mooted questions as 

 these, natural history is much indebted. Not a little of the evi- 

 dence adduced in this chapter I have derived thence. 

 300 



