CHEATS AND HOAXES. OM 
Mr. Newman inserted this tale in his Zoologist of 1850, p. 2803, 
however, not without the followmg introduction: 
“Ever since Prof. Owrn attempted to confound this leviathan 
with the seals, on which he probably feeds, taking in whole 
shoals of them at a mouthful, and draining of the water with his 
seaserpentbone apparatus in the manner of a whale filling his 
stomach with medusae and shrimps: ever since the promulgation 
of this humilating hypothesis, the great sea-serpent has felt himself 
snubbled and has doggedly kept in deep water, pertinatiously 
resolved, no doubt, to withhold himself in future from the incre- 
dulous malevolence of men. But he has relented: the recurrence of 
St. Valentine has warmed his heart: he has once more risen to 
the surface, and has wisely concluded to shun the disparaging 
Britishers, and to select, as of yore, for the scene of his auto-ex- 
hibition, the shores of a nation, at once the smartest and most 
credulous on earth. The papers of the United States are fraught 
with intelligence respecting him; cannon have been discharged , 
and reports say that he is actually ashore. My first extract is from 
a religious newspaper, entitled the “Christian Mercury.’”” 
The reader will afterwards get acquainted with Prof. Owrn’s 
suggestions; it is not now the right moment to enter into them; 
I will only observe that Mr. Newman also wrote the following 
last word: 
“The London papers have repeated all this, intermixed with a 
perfect flood of wit: the shafts of which are directed against be- 
lievers and unbelievers, in a very pleasing and impartial manner. 
Ts it still a hoax, or a Brachioptilon Hamiltoni? — Epwarp 
Newman, London, April 20, 1850.” 
I must confess that I too am much inclined to believe, that all 
that has above been mentioned is a mere hoax, though the des- 
cription of the animal agrees with that of the Sea-serpent. It is 
striking that the arm of the Broad-River is first called White- 
River, and a few lines afterwards Whale-River. — As to the 
Brachoptilon Hamilton, it is a kind of shark. 
Again in the ///ustrated London News for 1850 , Sept. 7, appeared 
a hoax in the following terms: 
“The Cork Constitution publishes the following circumstantial 
letter: Courtmasherry, Aug. 29. — Sir, — The following partic- 
