AS84, THE VARIOUS EXPLANATIONS. 
Of all these explanations those are the best, which are not the 
result of reading one single report (1, 3, 4, 5, 11, 14, 15, 16), 
which are not mere suppositions without any foundation (6, 7, 8, 
12, 13, 21, 23), which are not offered by persons who a moment 
ago saw a deceitful object or animal (17, 18, 19, 20, 22), but 
which are the result of a study of several accounts and reports. 
They are those marked 2, 9 and 10. And of these n°. 10 is the 
most admissible, because the Ples:osaurus in its outlines most re- 
sembles the sea-serpent. Why, however, is the sea-serpent not a 
Plesiosaurus? I have already summed up some reasons, when treat- 
ing of this explanation, but the principal reasons are the mam- 
malian characters, habits and behaviour of the sea-serpent; I will 
try to prove this in the next chapter. 
