34 ATTEMPTS TO DISCREDIT THE SEA-SERPENT. 
“This animal” (the Basilosaurus) “was supposed by Dr. Kocu 
to be a reptile, a marine serpent, but Dr. Wyman has exposed 
the fallacy of this opinion, and shown that it was a warm blooded 
mammal’. | 
I do not think this to be the true view of the matter. I firmly 
believe that Dr. Kocn knew very well what he did, and that he 
was in every way an impostor who cheated the credulous people of 
their money. The honour of the discovery that the Baszlosaurus is 
a warm blooded mammal is due to Prof. Owen. Dr. Wyman has 
only recognized that the bones were of the Basilosaurus. 
The further history of the large skeleton exhibited in New York 
is related to us in that same Journal: 
“Koch’s sea-serpent was carried to Dresden, where it was de- 
scribed by Carus, who figured it and even restored the cranium , 
of which then only a portion had been found. Carus restored the 
cranium of a reptile, but this was a mere fiction of his imagination; — 
for an entire cranium has since been found, proving beyond a 
doubt that the Zeuglodon was not a reptile but a cetacean; the 
teeth being inserted by double roots into double alveoli is positive 
evidence that it was a warmblooded mammal. Miiller has also 
carefully studied this specimen, and pronounces it unquestionably 
a cetacean.” 
The reader will further on see mention made of a report, gener- 
ally known as that of the Daedalus. It appeared in the newspa- 
pers of October, 1848. As soon as it was published, the following 
letter was addressed to the Editor of the Géode. It first appeared 
in the number of 21. Oct., 1848, of that journal, next in the 
Times of 23d. Oct. and in the Jdlustrated London News of 28 
Oct. It runs as follows: 
“Mary Ann, of Glasgow, Glasgow, October 19”. 
“T have just reached this port, on a voyage from Malta and 
Lisbon, and my attention having been called to a report relative 
to an animal seen by the master and crew of Her Majesty’s ship 
Daedalus, I take the liberty of communicating the following cir- 
cumstance: — 
“When clearing out of the port of Lisbon, on the 30th of Sep- 
tember last, we spoke the American brig Daphne, of Boston, 
Mark Trelawney master. He signalled for us to heave to, which 
we did; and standing close round her counter, lay-to while the 
