THE OPEN SEA 89 
poisonous; they are common in the Indian 
Ocean; they are of course the descendants 
of land-snakes, and, as we have already 
mentioned, some of them at least come to the 
shore to bring forth their young. 
The rock-record shows that there were once 
great sea-serpents, and he is a bold man who 
says he is sure there are none living to-day. 
We remember seeing in the Prince of Mon- 
aco’s collection a great piece of a scaly cuttle- 
fish. It came from the stomach of a sperm- 
whale, but no one has seen the animal. Un- 
less the piece was a piece of the very last scaly 
cuttlefish, the animal is likely to be still repre- 
sented in the seas. Perhaps there may be a 
giant sea-serpent too. 
So many of those who go down to the sea 
in ships have seen sea-serpents that it is quite 
a reasonable inquiry to ask what kinds of sea- 
serpents they saw. One species certainly 
consists of the backs of a row of porpoises 
swimming quickly and showing at regular 
intervals on the surface. Another species 
consists of a long single-file of sea-fow] flying 
close to the surface. Another species is one 
of the large sharks, another is certainly a large 
cuttle, and another consists of the long lips 
