CHEATS AND HOAXES. AY 
Another reported capture of a sea-serpent was published in the 
Buffalo Daily Republic, of the 13th. of August, 1855, partly 
inserted in the Ld/ustrated London News of the 15th. of September, 
of that year, and iz foto in the Zoologist of that year, p. 4896, 
and in the Zimes of October, 1, 1855: 
“The “Buffalo Daily Republic” of the 13th. of August, announ- 
ces the capture of the great American water-snake on that day in 
the Silver Lake, near Perry village, New York. On Sunday, the 
12th. the snake came to the surface, displaying 30 feet length of 
his body. On Monday morning all were on the alert. At nine 
o'clock the snake appeared between the whaleman’s boat and the 
shore: he lay quiescent on the surface, and the whaleman’s boat 
moved slowly towards him, Mr. Smith, of Covington, pointing 
his patent harpoon. On reaching within ten feet of the snake, the 
iron whistled in the air, and he darted off towards the upper part 
of the lake, almost dragging the boat under water by his move- 
ment. Line was given him, and in half an hour his strength 
seemed much exhausted. The whaleman then went ashore and 
gradually hauled the lme in. When within fifty feet of the shore, 
the snake showed renewed life, and with one dart nearly carried 
off the whole line; but he was dragged slowly ashore amid excite- 
ment unexampled in the district. Four or five ladies fainted on 
‘seeing the snake, who, although ashore, lashed his body into tre- 
mendous folds, and then straightened himself out in agony with a 
noise that made the earth tremble. The harpoon had penetrated a 
thick muscular part, eight feet from his head. He is 59 feet 8 
inches in length, and has a most disgusting look. A slime a quarter 
of an inch thick covers his body, and if removed is instantly replaced 
by exudation. The body is variable in size. The head is the size of 
a full grown calf. Within eight feet from the head the neck grad- 
ually swells to the thickness of a foot in diameter; it then tapers 
down, and again gradually swells to a diameter of two feet in the 
centre, giving about six feet girth; it then tapers off towards the 
tail, and ends in a fin, which can expand im fan-shape three feet 
across, or close in a sheath. Double rows of fins are alternately placed 
along the belly. The head is most singular. The eyes are large, 
staring and terrific, with a transparent membrane attached to the 
lids, protecting the eye without impeding the vision. No gills appear. 
The mouth is like that of the fish called a sucker; it can stretch 
so as to swallow a body a foot and a half in diameter: there are 
no teeth; a bony substance, extending in two parallel lines, covers 
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