Reptiles. 2359 



It seems very irrational to speculate on the genus, order or class, to which a recent 

 animal belongs, while the head and sternum of the creature are still in existence. — 

 Edward Newman. 



The Great Sea-Serpent. — The following communication from our highly-respected 

 fellow-townsman, the Hon. T. H. Perkins, will be read with interest, especially as the sea- 

 serpent has been recently seen, as related in the English paper to which Col. Perkins 

 refers in his note. 



" Boston, November, 1848. 



" In the paper called the ' Illustrated London News,' of 28th October, is an ac- 

 count given by Capt. M'Quhae, of H.B.M. ship Daedalus, of a sea-serpent, seen from 

 his ship in August last, on her passage from the East Indies, and between the Cape 

 of Good Hope and St. Helena. The perusal of several articles on the subject leads 

 me to send you a letter written by me on my passage from England to the United 

 States, in August, 1826, to Jno. P. dishing, my friend and then partner, residing at 

 Canton, in China, I also send you a memorandum from Commander Bolton, of the 

 U. S. Navy, giving the report of the gentlemen of the Navy who were on board a ten- 

 der called the Lynn, and who had a very favorable opportunity of satisfying themselves 

 of the existence of the animal which had caused so much excitement. The serpent 

 was seen in 1817, '19 and '20, from the shore, and the reports show the bunches to be 

 produced by the vertical motion of the body when in action. From the drawings 

 which accompany the letter of Capt. M'Quhae, there are none of the protuberances, 

 and which would lead to the opinion that the animal seen on the other side of the 

 Equator differs in genus from that which has been seen on our coast. The drawings 

 of the sea-serpent seen on the coast of Norway, given in the report of the Bishop 

 Pontoppidan, are identical with the appearance of the animal which has been so often 

 spoken of as visiting our northern seas. T. H. Perkins. 



" On board the ship Ann Maria, at sea, lat. 46, long. 44. Oct. 13, 1820. 



" My dear sir, — When on shore I have little time to spare from business to devote 

 to details which I am now to communicate. 



" During the past three years you will have seen accounts in the newspapers, or 

 reports will have met you in another form of an immense sea-serpent having infested 

 our shores in Boston Bay. The first appearance he made was in the summer of 1817, 

 in the harbour of Cape Ann. Wishing to satisfy myself on a subject on which there 

 existed a great difference of opinion, I myself visited Gloucester with Mr. Lee. On 

 our way down we met several persons returning who had visited the place where he 

 was said to have exhibited himself, and who reported to us that he had not been seen 

 for two or three days past. We however continued our route to Gloucester, though 

 with fears that we should not be gratified with the sight of the monster which we 

 sought. I satisfied myself, from conversation with several persons who had seen him, 

 that the report in circulation was not a fable. All the town were, as you may suppose, 

 on the alert ; and almost every individual, both great and small, had been gratified, 

 at a greater or less distance, with a sight of him. The weather was fine, the sea per- 

 fectly smooth, and Mr. Lee and myself were seated on a point of land which projects 



