PROGRESSIYE DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIC LIFE. 213 



direction, that, during these epochs of disturbance, neither the earth 

 i>or the atmosphere could be fitted for the residence of man, or the 

 higher order of animals ; nor do we find, among the secondary strata 

 that have once been dry land, any remains of its former inhabitants, 

 except the bones of enormous reptiles. 



Though man and the higher orders of animals could not exist 

 during an epoch of universal disturbance, yet we can discover no 

 reason why many genera and species, particularly of marine animals, 

 that have formerly existed, should be now extinct, unless a change 

 has taken place in the temperature of the globe. Indeed, it is 

 found that many genera and species, which are discovered only in a 

 fossil state in Europe, still inhabit the seas of tropical climates, and 

 some species that were supposed to be entirely extinct, have been 

 recently discovered living in southern latitudes. More important 

 discoveries of this kind may probably be made, as we know little 

 respecting the state of animal existence at the bottom of the sea, or 

 what monsters 



" The deep unfathom'd caves of ocean bear." 



"Et quas marmoreo fert monstra sub gequore pontus." 



I am inclined to believe, that the ichthyosaurus, or some species 

 of a similar genus, is still existing in the present seas. About six- 

 teen years since, a large animal was seen for several summers in the 

 Atlantic, near the coast of the United Stales, and was called the great 

 sea serpent. Its appearance was frequently announced in the public 

 journals, but the existence of the animal was for some time disbe- 

 lieved in this country. I am informed by Professor Silliman of 

 Yale College, Connecticut, of whom I made enquiry, that many per- 

 sons who attested the existence of the sea serpent from their own 

 observations, were so highly respectable, both for intelligence and 

 veracity, that their evidence could not be disputed. 



I remember one of the most particular descriptions of the sea ser- 

 pent was given by an American captain, who saw the animal raise a 

 large portion of its body from the water : he represented it as of 

 great length, and about the bulk of a large water cask ; it had pad- 

 dles somewhat like a turtle, and enormous jaws like the crocodile. 

 This description certainly approaches to, or may be said to corres- 

 pond with, the ichthyosaurus, of which animal the captain had prob- 

 ably never heard. An animal of the magnitude attributed to the sea 

 serpent would certainly require paddles or fins to impel it swiftly 

 through the water. I very much regret that I am unable to refer to 

 the American paper from which the account was taken, and must be 

 content to direct the attention of future observers to the above state- 

 ment, should the sea serpent again appear in the Atlantic Ocean.* 



* In the American Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. II, p. 147-164, may be seen 

 a collection of documents on the subject of the sea serpent ; they were compiled by 



