2320 Reptiles. 



not persistent, but depend, as suggested by the American functionary, on the mode of 

 progression practised at the moment. Anybody that has watched the lithe and varied 

 curves of an otter in the water can have no difficulty in reconciling together the dif- 

 ferent kinds of undulation attributed to the sea-serpent. There is one particular of 

 rare occurrence worthy of notice, in one of these later accounts, calling to mind a pe- 

 culiarity in the description of the animal seen by Mr. Egede, a Greenland missionary, 

 and furnished to us, with a copy of the figure, by Pontoppidan. This creature, of 

 the unusual length of 600 feet, " had under its body two flaps, or perhaps two broad 

 fins." One of the recent narratives also states of the progressive movement, that it 

 appeared to be produced " by the help of two fins " (Zool. 1607). Thus is offered a 

 possible solution of the difficulty occasioned by Captain M'Quhse's specimen having 

 advanced at a rapid rate, with 60 feet of the body a Jleur oVeau, without any visible 

 undulation. 



Here I may refer to ' The Description of an Animal stranded on the Island of 

 Stronsa, in the year 1808,' given in the first volume of the ' Wernerian Transactions,' 

 by the late eminent Dr. Barclay. Evidently disposed to believe that this animal was 

 a sea-serpent, Dr. Barclay indignantly repudiates the opinion of Mr. Home, that it 

 was nothing more than a shark (Squalus maximus). Figures of the two are shown in 

 juxtaposition, for the purpose of contrasting them, and to all appearance their respect- 

 ive peculiarities are quite sufficient to entitle them to distinctive appellations. The 

 Orkney animal, in fact, bears a curious resemblance to a Plesiosaurus, with six legs. 

 Nevertheless, anatomists have decided that a shark it really was, the anomalies being 

 accounted for by the circumstance of the drawing having been taken from hearsay 

 and under the supervision of persons who only saw the original in a very imperfect 

 state. The " animal of Stronsa " and the " Scoliophis Atlanticus " leave us equally 

 in the dark with regard to the physical economy of the sea-serpent ; that is, unless 

 the solution offered by Drs. Mantell and Melville (Zool. 2310) shall prove to be correct. 



From what precedes it is evident, First, that the notion of the sea-serpent is not a 

 mere growth of unlettered and credulous superstition, since it has been repeated and 

 confirmed by parties than whom it would be difficult to select any more worthy of con- 

 fidence, with this sole objection — that none of them have been naturalists. The 

 critical eye of a Miiller or an Owen would determine its true affinities in a moment. 

 Secondly, that if we do the justice of rejecting all extraneous ideas, and confine our- 

 selves to what strictly relates to the object in question, there is a consistent tendency 

 in nearly all the different narratives to invest it with the true characters of the Repti- 

 lian class. Thirdly, that if there be any truth in the idea that the animal spends most 

 of its time under water, only rising to the surface in calm weather during the summer 

 months, this — however difficult to conceive of an air-breathing creature — in a great 

 measure accounts for the unfrequency of its occurrence. But are there no other 

 forms, even of the highest stage of organization, which have been able to conceal 

 themselves from the scrutiny of naturalists ? Not to speak of the minor accessions of 

 unknown species, coming in to adorn our collections and extend the limits of science, 

 it deserves to be borne in mind that perhaps the very chief of all the Quadrumana 

 {Troglodytes gorilla of Savage), the being that holds the foremost rank in the scale next 

 to man, is one of the most recent contributions of the African Fauna. At the beginning 

 of this century, a cetaceous animal (Physeter bidens of Sowerby), sixteen feet long, 

 was cast ashore on the coast of Elginshire. The species had been previously un- 

 described, and not another example is commonly believed to have since occurred. 



