THE GREAT SEA SERPENT, 
S3 
fortified towns. According to the historian, the annoyance 
caused by it to the army did not cease with its death, for 
the water was polluted with its gore, and the air with the 
noxious fumes from its corrupted carcase, to such a degree 
that the Romans were obliged to remove their camp. They, 
however secured the animal's skin and skull, which were pre- 
served in a temple at Rome till the time of the Numantine 
w^ar. This combat has been described, to the same effect, 
by Florus (lib. ii.), Seneca (litt. 82), Silvius Italicus (1. vi.), 
Aulus Gellius (lib. vi., cap. 3), Orosius, Zonaras, &c., and is 
referred to by Pliny (lib. viii., cap. 14) as an incident known 
to every one. Diodorus Siculus also tells of a great serpent, 
sixty feet long, which lived chiefly in the water, but landed 
at frequent intervals to devour the cattle in its neighbour- 
hood. A party was collected to capture it ; but their first 
attempt failed, and the monster killed twenty of them. It 
was afterwards taken in a strong net, carried alive to 
Alexandria, and presented to King Ptolemy II., the founder 
of the Alexandrian Library and Museum, who was a great 
collector of zoological and other curiosities. This snake 
was probably one of the great boas. 
The " Serpens marhms " is figured and referred to by 
many other writers, but as they evidently allude to the 
Conger and the Murena, we will pass over their descrip- 
tions. 
The sea-serpents mentioned by Aristotle, Pliny, and 
Diodorus were, doubtless, real sea-snakes, true marine 
ophidians, which are more common in tropical seas than is 
generally supposed. They are found most abundantly in 
the Indian Ocean ; but they have an extensive geographical 
range, and between forty and fifty species of them are 
known. They are all highly poisonous, and some are so 
ferocious that they more frequently attack than avoid man. 
