52 ATTEMPTS TO DISCREDIT THE SEA-SERPENT. 
A sort of sea earthquake it seems to resemble; 
Send forward the mate to see what is the matter.” 
When lo! what he saw would have made your teeth shatter, 
An enormous big snake rising out of the sea, 
Some three hundred feet long it might possibly be, 
And in bulk it might equal a “wide crinoline”’ 
(At least seven yards round that description must mean). 
With jaws eight feet long, and with eyes fiercely glaring, 
A horn and a mane; he looked horribly daring, 
While the bowsprit he shook in his terrible mouth. 
"T was in Latitude east and in Longitude south, 
This is somewhat obscure, but I think on the whole 
It occurred th’ other side of the Antarctic pole, 
The ship making six knots — leaving foam in her wake, 
Yet she stopped at the touch of this wonderful snake; 
And the jibboom and bowsprit were snapped like a straw; 
But his strength was outdone by his marvellous maw; 
For he swallowed the stay-sail and also the jib, 
Like a boy gulping oysters — they went down to glib. 
With his stay to his stomac he turned him about, 
And gave with his tail such a vigorous flout, 
That some timbers to atoms were crushed by the blow, 
And what more might have happened we none of us know, 
When an object appeared for the which he set sail, 
And both object and story were much like a whale.” 
Afterwards, (Zoologist, p. 7278, of the same year) we find the 
following about the young sea-serpent of Captain Taytor: 
“Captain Taylor's Sea-Serpent. — A friend, who has the oppor- 
tunity of communicating with Melbourne on the subject of the 
young sea-serpent which Captain Taylor says (Zool. 6985) he pre- 
sented to the Museum at Melbourne, has ascertained through Mr. | 
Coates, of that town, that Captain Taylor is so far correct, that 
he did at the time specified present a specimen of Pelamys bicolor 
to the Museum in question, and Professor M’Coy exhibited the 
same to Mr. Coates. Of course there is no rational ground for 
concluding that this small sea snake is the young of any such 
gigantic creature as Captain Taylor has described. — Sdward 
Newman.” | 
But of a great Sea-Serpent of Captain Taytor we don’t find 
any more statements! 
