[The 11th. ] THE VARIOUS EXPLANATIONS. 
ABD 
that the assertion “nothing like a fin was seen” does not exclude 
the presence of flappers, hidden under water. ‘The flappers of a 
swimming sea-lion or seal are not 
generally seen either. If not a saur- 
lan, what kind of animal could 
it be then, a fish or a mammal? 
The twelfth explanation, viz: 
a row of spermwhales, which is 
found in Prof. ScurizcEn’s Lssai 
sur la physionomie des NSerpens, 
1837, p. 518, is better than that 
of a row of porpoises or of basking 
sharks, with their plainly visible 
backfins, for there is a species of 
spermwhales, viz. the Catodon ma- 
crocephalus the backfin of which is 
so small as to be almost invisible. 
The other species, Physeter tursio 
has a rather large and erected 
backfin. 
Professor ScHLEGEL, after describ- 
ing the appearance of a row of 
porpoises swimming in line, goes 
on saying: “This habit is also com- 
mon to the larger cetaceans , which , 
however, only accidentally frequent 
our’ (the Dutch) “coasts. The 
coasts of North-America, where the 
monstrous sea-serpent has so often 
been observed, swarm with them, 
and I confess that from a vessel, 
for instance, the unexpected appear- 
ance of a family of spermwhales 
swimming in line, with the eldest 
at the head, must offer a spectacle 
striking enough and fit to call forth 
at once superstition, imagination 
and fear.” 
It is true that a row of sperm- 
Catodon macrocephalus 
Fig. 64. 
