CONCLUSIONS. 497 
afterwards, when even distinct traces of it were said to have been 
found in the fields (96). 
In my opinion it is an error to believe that there are ¢wo spe- 
cies of sea-serpents (p. 107) or that there are several species of them 
all belonging to the same genus (112). And also that the animal 
ever takes a boat for one of the other sex, which induces it to 
follow the boat (p. 133). This is a habit of the animal; but as 
it is a quite harmless one, it is an error to believe that it grows 
furious when the pursued are so fortunate as to escape (158), or 
that it may ever destroy them, even after being struck with a 
boat-hook (112). That the shores of Norway are the only in Europe, 
which are frequented by this monster (p. 135) is a positive error, 
since the animal is known to appear also on the coasts of Great 
Britain, France, and even in the Mediterranean. 
From what we now know of the division of the colours of the 
animal’s body, I don’t hesitate to say that they are wrongly re- 
presented in one of the drawings (fig. 31). The cetacean tail deli- 
neated in fig. 49 is explamed in n°. 151, the fish tail of fig. 26 
in n°. 63. The definition that the eyes were of a greenish hue and 
looked devilish (158) is certainly the result of an observation made 
in great fright. I am sure that in cases wherein the colour of the 
head and neck are described as a bluish green (29), or of a blue 
colour (29), or as blue as possible (29), and that of the back of 
a dark green (30), these definitions are the result of optical illu- 
sion, or the observers may have been. colour-blind. 
The twelve fins (129, fig. 36) of which six are drawn on the 
left side and six on the right side of the body emerging from the 
water, are undoubtedly the result of an optical deception, as | 
have explained in n°. 129.—In the same way I have explained 
why the animal has a head connected with the body without any 
indication of a neck, so that it resembled a gigantic salamander 
(146), and that it seemed to be of a gelatinous, that is flabby, 
substance (146), and that the motion of it was apparently cork- 
screw-like (155). 
In no case the antenna, ending in a crescent (1064) or the 
ridge of fins (148), or the discolouring of the water (131) observed, 
have anything to do with the animal or with its appearance. 
But Jet us now pass to the facts which may be inferred from 
what is reported of the animal. 
