2312 Reptiles. 



whose veracity I have no reason to doubt, gave me a circumstantial account of one 

 which he had himself seen. It rose within 30 yards of the boat in which he was, and 

 swam parallel with it for a considerable time. Its head he described as equalling a 

 small cask in size, and its mouth, which it repeatedly opened and shut, was furnished 

 with formidable teeth ; its neck was smaller, but its body — of which he supposed that 

 he saw about half on the surface of the water— was not less in girth than that of a 

 moderate sized horse. Another gentleman, in whose house I stayed, had also seen 

 one, and gave a similar account of it*, it also came near his boat upon the fjord, when 

 it was fired at, upon which it turned and pursued them to the shore, which was luckily 

 near, when it disappeared. They expressed great surprise at the general disbelief at- 

 taching to the existence of these animals amongst naturalists, and assured me that 

 there was scarcely a sailor accustomed to those inland lakes, who had not seen them 

 at one time or another. Oxoniensis." — ' Times,' November 4, 1848. 



[Will the writer oblige me with his name ? — E. NJ] 



The Great Sea-Serpent. — " The sketch [this was a reduced copy of the drawing of 

 the head of the animal seen by Captain M'Quhae, attached to the submerged body of 

 a large seal, showing the long eddy produced by the action of the terminal flippers] 

 will suggest the reply to your query ' whether the monster seen from the. Daedalus be 

 anything but a Saurian ? ' If it be the true answer it destroys the romance of the 

 incident, and will be anything but acceptable to those who prefer the excitement of 

 the imagination to the satisfaction of the judgment. I am far from insensible to the 

 pleasures of the discovery of a new and rare animal, but before I can enjoy them cer- 

 tain conditions, e. g., reasonable proof or evidence of its existence, must be fulfilled. 

 I am also far from undervaluing the information which Captain M'Quhae has given 

 us of what he saw. When fairly analysed it lies in a small compass ; but my know- 

 ledge of the animal kingdom compels me to draw other conclusions from the pheno- 

 mena than those which the gallant captain seems to have jumped at. He evidently 

 saw a large animal moving rapidly through the water, very different from anything he 

 had before witnessed — neither a whale, a grampus, a great shark, an alligator, nor any 

 of the larger surface-swimming creatures which are fallen in with in ordinary voyages. 

 He writes, ' On our attention being called to the object it was discovered to be an 

 enormous serpent ' (read ' animal ') ' with the head and shoulders kept about four feet 

 constantly above the surface of the sea. The diameter of the serpent ' (animal) ' was 

 about 15 or 16 inches behind the head ; its colour a dark brown, with yellowish white 

 about the throat.' No fins were seen (the captain says there were none ; but from his 

 own account he did not see enough of the animal to prove his negative). ' Something 

 like the mane of a horse, or rather a bunch of sea-weed washed about its back.' So 

 much of the body as was seen was ' not used in propelling the animal through the 

 water, either by vertical or horizontal undulation.' A calculation of its length was 

 made under a strong preconception of the nature of the beast. The head, e. g., is 

 stated to be * without any doubt that of a snake ; ' and yet a snake would be the last 

 species to which a naturalist conversant with the forms and characters of the heads of 

 animals would refer such a head as that of which Captain M'Quhae has transmitted a 

 drawing to the Admiralty, and which he certifies to have been accurately copied in the 

 ' Illustrated London News ' for October 28, 1848, p. 265. Your lordship will observe 

 that no sooner was the captain's attention called to the object than ' it was discovered 

 to be an enormous serpent,' and yet the closest inspection of as much of the body as 

 was visible, a fleur iVeau, failed to detect any undulations of the body, although such 



