506 CONCLUSIONS. 
round (43). One of the eye-witnesses says: I do not undertake to 
say he was of the snake or eel kind, though this was the general 
impression on my family, the spectators and myself (63). Generally 
it is compared with a snake (5, 17, 18, 25, 26, 37, 41, 44, 60, 
80, 118, 135, 152) or serpent (26, 36, 39, 41, 42, 48, 44, 48, 
60, 80, 103, 118, 121, 147, 157). Curious is the statement of one 
that it was an enormous sea-serpent, without, however, having 
ever heard of such an animal (132)! Remarkable is the opinion of 
an officer of the Daedalus: it was, he says, rather of a lizard than 
of a serpentine character, as its movement was steady and uniform, 
as if propelled by fins, not by any undulatory power (118). Re- 
markable too is PonroppripaNn’s comparison of an animal which he 
himself, believing that sea-serpents have no fins, or paws, or flap- 
pers, did not mention in his paragraph about the subject, viz. 
with a crocodile (14). Captain Horr who had an opportunity to 
observe the animal from above, described it as a large marine 
animal with the head and general figure of the alligator, except 
that the neck was much longer, and that instead of legs the creature 
had four flappers somewhat like those of turtles, the anterior pair 
being larger than the posterior (119). In my opinion the comparison 
of Lieutenant Haynes, of the Osborue, who saw the fore part of 
the animal from behind, deserves all our attention; he says: the 
animal resembled a huge seal, the resemblance being strongest 
about the back of the head (148, fig. 45). 
The shape of the head has also been described in different ways. 
There is the statement that it is of a form somewhat oval (31); 
here it evidently was seen in rather an oblique direction; also that 
it was as round as a floar-barrel (158, evidently seen in front), and 
bullet-shaped (148, seen from behind, fig. 45). The head is also. 
said to appear like a triangular rock (74), or like a nun buoy (131), 
or like a boat keel uppermost, and the reader has only to look at 
our fig. 31, to conceive how these comparisons arose. In another 
instance the observer declared it to have nearly the shape of a ten- 
gallon cask (102), which is nearly the same as “of a form some- 
what oval”. Major Senior asserts that the shape of the head was 
not unlike pictures of the dragon he has often seen (149); the 
explanation of this curious comparison I have given in treating of 
his report. The head, says somebody, resembled the end of a log 
(150), and: the thick bluff head had but little resemblance to a 
snake’s (150); but he saw the animal in late evening twilight. 
But most eye-witnesses declare it to resemble that of a snake (p. 
