THE KOMANCE OF NATUKAL HISTORY. 



the animal: — ''Head with a convex, moderately 

 capacious cranium, short obtuse muzzle, gape not 

 extending further than the eye: eye rather small, 

 round, filling closely the palpebral aperture; 

 colour dark brown above, yellowish white be- 

 neath ; surface smooth, without scales, scutes, or 

 other conspicuous modifications of hard and 

 naked cuticle; nostrils not mentioned, but indi- 

 cated in the drawing by a crescentic mark at the 

 end of the nose or muzzle; body long, dark brown, 

 not undulating, without dorsal or other apparent 

 fins;— 'but something like the mane of a horse, or 

 rather a bunch of sea-weed washed about its 

 back.' " 



The earlier of these characters are those "of the 

 head of a warm-blooded mammal ; none of them 

 those of a cold-blooded reptile or fish." The com- 

 parison of the dimly-seen something on the back 

 to a horse's mane or sea- weed, seems to indicate 

 a clothing of hair; and, guided by this interpreta- 

 tion, the Professor judges that the animal was 

 not a cetacean, but rather a great seal. 



Now, it is manifest that it was from the pic- 

 torial sketches, more than from the verbal de- 

 scription of Captain M'Quhae, that this diagnosis 

 was drawn up. And if the drawings had been 

 made from the life, under the direction of a skilful 

 zoologist, nothing could be more legitimate than 

 such a use of them. But surely it has been over- 

 looked that they were made under no such cir- 

 cumstances. Only one of the published repre- 

 sentations was original; and this was taken 

 "immediately after the animal was seen."* That 

 is, one of the officers, who could draw, went 



* The enlarged view of the head was no douht made up from 

 one of the other drawings expressly for the Illustrated London 

 News, and therefore claims no independent value. 

 326 



