3804 The Zoologist — December, 1873. 



eight pouuds. According to its length it ought to have weighed heavier, 

 but it was rather out of condition, though its flesh ate well, — something of a 

 mixture of eels, veal and chicken. This makes the third sturgeon which 

 has been caught in the same pool ; the largest, caught some five years ago, 

 weighed one hundred and twelve pounds. — J. H. White; Hemingford Grey, 

 St. Ires, September 21, 1873. 



Death of tbc Porpoise in the Brighton Aqaariam. — I regret to state that 

 the last surviving porpoise at Brighton is dead. This is not merely to be 

 lamented as a loss to the aquarium, but as proving how difficult it is to keep 

 the Cetacea in confinement, for we cannot doubt that every care has been 

 taken with these most interesting prisoners. — Edward Neivinan. 



The Supposed Sea Serpent.— On Tuesday afternoon last. Lady Florence 

 Leveson Gower and the Hon. Mrs. Coke, driving near the sea, about eight 

 miles east from Dunrobin, saw what seemed to them a large and long 

 marine animal. On Wednesday morning Dr. Soutar, of Golspie, saw a 

 large creature rushing about in the sea, about fifty yards from shore : it 

 frequently raised what seemed a neck, seven feet out of the water, and from 

 the length of troubled water behind it appeared to be fifty or sixty feet 

 long. He said to his family on meeting them at breakfast, " If I believed 

 in sea serpents, I should say I had seen one this morning." I may mention 

 that this gentleman is a most trustworthy observer and cautious man. On 

 Thursday I saw what seemed some drift sea-weed. When your report was 

 published Dr. Tayler, the author of 'Thanatophidia of India' was at the castle; 

 I asked him what he thought of the matter, and he said he was quite 

 prepared to believe in such a monster. Mr. Vernon Harcourt told me that 

 he was in a small yacht off Glenelg on the evening of the day mentioned in 

 your report, and about six miles from the locality, and that he and his crew 

 saw what seemed a great moving mass, which, but for some engagement or 

 the lateness of the hour, they would have examined. — Extract from a letter 

 from Mr. Joass, of Golspie, to the Rev. John Macrae, of Glenelg. 



[Mr. Joass, an eye-witness, writing in the ' Times ' of November 20, 

 says, " the ears seemed to be diaphanous and nearly semi-circular flaps or 

 valves over-arching the nostrils, which were in front. The cavity of the 

 eye appeared to be considerably further back, and a peculiar glimmer in it, 

 along with the sudden disappearance of the creature, presented, indeed, the 

 only signs of its vitality, so far as I could see, while I watched it for half- 

 an-hour, apparently drifting with the rising tide, but always keeping about 

 the same distance oS" shore. -= ^= * Dr. Soutar and I are more or less 

 familiar with the forms of the porpoise, seal, halibut, conger, and even 

 shark, both in and out of the water." — Edicard Neivman.] 



E. NEWMAN, PKIHTEE, DEVONSUIEE STKEET, BISHOPSGATE. 



