[The 22d.] THE VARIOUS EXPLANATIONS. A475 
“It is just possible that the ,,flabby” or “gelatinous” creature 
mentioned in this narrative was a giant cuttle-fish, whose manner 
of swimming, colour, absence of limbs, etc., would correspond 
with the details of the narrative. The “immense tail’ might be 
the enormous arms of such a creature trailing behind the body as 
it swam backwards, propelled by yets of water from the breathing 
“funnel.” 
Mr. Lee in his Sea Monsters Unmasked tries to explain all ac- 
counts of the sea-serpent by reference to large calamaries. Of one 
of the figures of Otaus Maenus’ work (our fig. 14) he says: “the 
presumed body of the serpent was one of the arms of the squid” 
(which snatched the man from the vessel) “and the two rows of 
suckers thereto belonging are indicated in the illustration by the 
medial line traversing its whole length (intended to represent a 
dorsal fin) and the double row of transverse septa, one on each 
side of it.” I have discussed this explanation in its might place 
(see p. 106). , 
The “monster of Earp’ he also explained by reference to a 
great calamary. Mr. Lex does not doubt of the accuracy of EcEpr’s 
description, but as to Mr. Bine’s figure he says: “The high cha- 
racter of the narrator would lead us to accept his statement that 
he had seen something previously unknown to him (he does not 
say 1t was a sea-serpent) even if we could not explain or understand 
Fig. 70. — Position of a gigantic calamary, by which Mr. Henry Lee 
explains Mr. Brye’s drawing. 
