WOULD-BE SEA-SERPENTS., 63 
The above-mentioned communication of Dr. Joun Barcuay was 
printed in 1811] in the first Volume of the Memoirs of the Wer- 
nerian Society, and contains a detailed description of some vertebrae 
of the animal. The figures of these vertebrae are splendid, also 
those of the dried and shrivelled skull and a portion of one of the 
pectoral fins, with the cartilages that connect it with the body. As 
well the descriptions as the figures betray at a glance the shark 
nature of the animal. We will not trouble our readers with them, 
and we will also omit the figures, except one; it is a drawing 
made after the description of one of the eye-witnesses."(See our Fig. 7). 
Fig. 7. — The Animal of Stronsa. 
The Paper of Dr. Barcnay was entitled: Remarks on some parts 
of the animal that was cast ashore on the island of Stronsa, Sept. 
1808. The above-mentioned affidavits were also printed in 1811, 
in the first Volume of the Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural 
History Society, and run as follows: 
“At Kirkwall, Nov. LO. 1808. 
“In presence of Dr. Robert Groat, Physician in Kirkwall, and 
Malcolm Laing, Esq; M. P. Two of his Majesty’s Justices of the 
_ Peace of the County of Orkney. 
“Compeared ‘Thomas lotheringhame, house-carpenter in Kirkwall; 
who solemnly declared, That being in Stronsa during the gales of 
wind in October last; he went to see the strange fish that was 
driven ashore in Rothiesholm Bay: That he measured his length 
with a foot-rule, which was exactly fifty-five feet, from the junction 
of the head and neck, where there was the appearance of an ear, 
to the tail: That the length of the neck, from the ear to the 
shoulder, was ten feet three inches, as nearly as he recollects. And 
being shewn a drawing of the animal, he declared, That the neck 
appeared to him to be too long. That the fins or arms, or, as 
they were called on the island, the wigs of the animal, were 
jointed to the body nearer the ridge of the back than they appear 
in the drawing: That the toes were less spread out, and tapering 
more to a point, unless when purposely lifted up; but were not 
