[ N°. 63. ] REPORTS AND PAPERS. 209 
ured on the description, being also induced to hope, that if 
anything on the marvellous is stated as coming from me, you 
will correct it. 
“Accept the respects and attention of 
“Dear Sir, yours sincerely 
“James Prince.” 
We see that Mr. Princz uses many words to give a very short 
description of the animal. Yet we are able to gather the following 
details. Its head appeared about three feet out of the water, there 
were 13 or 15 bunches on its back, sometimes the rapidity was 
moderate, occasioning, however, a foam in the water; length 50 
to 60 feet; the animal left behind it a wake; sometimes it with- 
drew itself under water; it appeared to be a harmless timid animal ; 
its eyes were glistening. All these characters, external features and 
habits are long known to us. Mr. Prince first said the animal 
belonged to the fish-kind; afterwards, however, he dared not say 
whether it was of the snake or eel-kind; yet his figure shows large 
scales and a fish-tail. It is astonishing that the person who is so 
careful in his expressions, is so inaccurate when handling the pencil. 
The head of the animal in his figure is more that of a young 
duck than of a serpent or snake, which the head of the sea-serpent 
is said to resemble closely. The coils are badly drawn, and though 
13 to 15 bunches were seen, only six are delineated. The rippling 
of the water on the animal’s left side and before it is well repre- 
sented, on its right side, however, it is quite wrong. The two 
racked-formed wings are certainly the representation of the foam, 
caused in the water by the animal’s rapid motion. And finally the 
scales and the fish-tail are drawn by Mr. Prince though he has 
not seen them! I am obliged to state again that this figure is a 
facsimile of that which I found in Oxen’s./s¢s; the very one of 
the Boston Daily Advertiser | have had no opportunity to see. 
The letter from Mr. Prince is translated into Dutch in the 
Vaderlandsche Letteroefeningen voor 1820, Tweede Stuk, Mengel- 
werk. 
On the same day it was seen by Mr. Casot, who wrote the 
following letter (Sinumman’s Am. Journ. Sc. Arts, IL, 1820) to our 
well known 
“Col. Ty. 1.2 Perkins” 
“Brookline, August 19, 1819. 
“Dear Sir” 
“J very willingly comply with your request to state what I saw 
14 
