THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



tives, we have a creature possessing the following 

 characteristics : 



1. The general form of a serpent (1, 2, 3,* 4, 



5, 6, 7). 



2. Great length, say above sixty feet, (1, 2, 5, 



6, 7t). 



3. Head considered to resemble that of a ser- 

 pent, (1, 2, 5, 6, 7t). 



4. Neck from twelve to sixteen inches in diame- 

 ter, (1,§ 2, 4, 5). 



5. Appendages on the head (7), neck (6), or 

 back (2, 5), resembling a crest or mane. (Con- 

 siderable discrepancy in details.) 



(>. Colour dark brown (1, 2, 5, 7), or green 

 (6) ; streaked or spotted with white (1, 2, .">, 6, 

 7). 



7. Swims at surface of the water (1, 2, 8, 4, 

 5, 6, 7), with a rapid (1, 2, 5), or slow (4, 6, 

 7), movement; the head and neck projected and 

 elevated above the surface (1, 2, 5, 6, 7). 



8. Progression steady and uniform; the body 

 straight (2, 5, 6), but capable of being thrown 

 into convolutions (4). 



'.). Spouts in the manner of a whale (6). 



To which of the recognised classes of created 

 beings can this huge rover of the ocean be re- 

 ferred? And, first, is it an animal at all? That 

 there are immense algae in the ocean, presenting 

 some of the characters described, has been already 

 shewn ; and on two occasions an object supposed 

 to be the "sea-serpent" proved on examination to 

 be but a sea- weed floating ; the separated and in- 



* Captain Beechey's view was too momentary to be of much 

 value ; the object he saw he compares to the trunk of a tree, 

 which, so far as it goes, agrees with the serpent shape. 



+ From two hundred to five hundred feet (7). 



% " Like a long nun-buoy " (7). 



§ M That of a moderate-sized tree" CI). 

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