1874.] 337 [Kneelaod. 



March 18, 1874. 



The President in the chair. Sixty-one persons present. 



The following papers were read : — 



Dr. Samuel Kneeland read a paper illustrated by diagrams 

 and specimens, on the " Evidence for and against the exist- 

 ence of the so-called sea-serpent." 



Though an animal so named has been seen by many credible wit- 

 nesses on the coasts of Norway and New England, and has been 

 popularly believed in for centuries, all the researches of naturalists 

 have failed to discover any remains of such a creature, or to obtain 

 any satisfactory information as to its size, proportions, appearance, or 

 habits. There is, doubtless, much exaggeration in the popular de- 

 scriptions of the animal; but in view of the great mass of testimony 

 in favor of its existence, the fact that we are by no means cognizant 

 of all the forms of life in the ocean, and also the certainty that in 

 former geological ages more than one type existed to which this ani- 

 mal may bear some resemblance, it is fair to assume that there may be 

 a portion of truth at the foundation of this question. 



After tracing the history of the animal from Pontoppidan in the 

 middle of the 18th century to the present time, and enumerating the 

 numerous references to its appearance in Europe and America, and 

 quoting Prof. Owen's remarks against its existence, he brought in 

 review the various alleged sources of error; none of these seemed 

 to him probable, considering the practised eyes of the principal wit- 

 nesses in marine objects. 



After showing that this animal could not be referred to fishes nor 

 to serpents, nor to any described form of living reptiles or mammals, 

 he drew attention to the fact that many early geological types had 

 been transmitted to the present time, with or without interruption — 

 such as the Cestracion, Lepidosteus, Chimasra, Percopsis, Lingula, etc. 



For the last thirty years it has been believed that the closest 

 affinities of the " sea-serpent " were with the enaliosaurians of the 

 secondary age, and especially with Plesiosaurus. The Mosasaurus, a 

 marine saurian of the cretaceous epoch, seems to fill up still better 

 the requirements of this animal. 



PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. — VOL. XVI. 22 JULY, 1874. 



