2192 Reptiles. 



a native of this part of the country, but had migrated from Norfolk. I have thus taken 

 Mr. Evans's hint, and endeavoured to contribute my mite to the " ornithological vo- 

 cabulary " of this neighbourhood. If other readers of the ' Zoologist,' residing in 

 distant parts of the country, would follow the example, no doubt they might add 

 largely to our knowledge of provincial nomenclature, and we should hear of names 

 strange sounding and hitherto unknown to Warwickshire ears. — W. T. Bree ; Allesley 

 Rectory, July 6, 1848. 



The Great Sea-Serpent. — I have waited anxiously to see whether any more com- 

 petent person than myself would offer any observation upon the statement of Captain 

 Woodward, published in the March number of the ' Zoologist,' relating to " the great 

 sea-serpent." As no one has done so, I beg to offer you the following. In a note 

 which you added to this statement, you say, " The foregoing statement was formally 

 signed and sworn to at Hingham, by Captain Woodward, on the 12th of May." What 

 12th of May ? you should have told your readers. Now, evidence given upon oath is 

 generally considered as conclusive, except where the party swearing is known to be 

 unworthy of credit, or the evidence given is not consistent with itself. Of Captain 

 Woodward I know nothing ; I never heard of him till I read the * Zoologist ' for 

 last March. It is, therefore, upon the latter ground that I venture to attack his state- 

 ment, and I do so because in a disputed question it is necessary to throw aside all 

 evidence that will not stand the strictest scrutiny. Capt. Woodward tells us nothing 

 of his whereabouts, except that he was sailing from Penobscot to Hingham, steering 

 W.N.W., nor of the date when he says he saw the serpent, except that it was on 

 " Sunday last, at 2 p. m." This is not sufficiently accurate. But these are trifling 

 points. The most extraordinary part of the statement will appear from this : Captain 

 Woodward says the beast moved with extreme, or, as he afterwards expresses himself, 

 astonishing rapidity ; that when he fired at the monster it was sixty feet at the most 

 from the bow of the ship, which appears to have been the nearest part of the vessel to 

 the animal ; that after he fired the beast advanced towards his ship ; that he had 

 caused his cannon to be reloaded and pointed at its throat, — of course while it was ad- 

 vancing towards his vessel, — but before he could fire his crew were seized with terror ; 

 that he tacked and got out of its way. So here we have an animal sixty feet from the 

 ship, moving with astonishing rapidity towards the ship, which it appears was also 

 moving towards the animal, and yet allowing time to load a cannon, point it at its 

 throat, and afterwards to tack to get out of its way. Truly, a most accommodating 

 serpent ! But again, the animal remained five hours near the ship, allowing itself to 

 be minutely examined, but yet no further attempt to kill the beast ! And what is al- 

 most equally strange, though even the position of the ear-holes is mentioned, — such 

 minute observation does Captain Woodward seem to have made, — yet no description 

 is given of any scales, or anything else, to account for what is before stated, that Capt. 

 Woodward and his crew " distinctly heard the ball and bullets strike against his body, 

 from which they rebounded as though they had struck against a rock." It is much to 

 be regretted that these inconsistencies did not strike you before you made public the 

 statement in question ; it is also to be regretted that no one better able than myself to 

 point tliein out has undertaken to do so. But it is highly desirable, in the present state 



