THE GREA T SEA SERPENT. 
95 
feet across, and the flappers each about fifteen feet in length. The 
movements of the flappers were those of a turtle, and the animal 
resembled a huge seal, the resemblance being strongest about the 
back of the head. I could not see the length of the head, but 
from its crown or top to just below the shoulder (where it became 
immersed), I should reckon about fifty feet. The tail end I did 
not see, being under water, unless the ridge of fins to which my 
attention was first attracted, and which had disappeared by the 
time I got a telescope, were really the continuation of the shoulder 
to the end of the object's body. The animal's head was not always 
above water, but was thrown upwards, remaining above for a few 
seconds at a time, and then disappearing. There was an entire 
absence of ' blowing,' or ' spouting.' I herewith beg to enclose 
a rough sketch, showing the view of the ' ridge of fins,' and also 
of the animal in the act of propelling itself by its two fins." 
It seems to me that this description cannot be explained 
as applicable to any one animal yet known. The ridge of 
dorsal fins might, possibly, as was suggested by Mr. Frank 
Buckland, belong to four basking sharks, swimming in 
line, in close order ; but the combination of them with long 
flippers, and the turtle-like mode of swimming, forms a 
zoological enigma which I am unable to solve. 
This brings us face to face with the question : " Is it then 
so impossible that there may exist some great sea creature, 
or creatures, with which zoologists are hitherto unacquainted, 
that it is necessary in every case to regard the authors of 
such narratives as wilfully untruthful, or mistaken in their 
observations, if their descriptions are irreconcileabk with 
something already known 1 " I, for one, am of the opinion 
that there is no such impossibility. Calamaries or squids 
of the ordinary size have, from time immemorial, been 
amongst the commonest and best known of marine 
animals in many seas ; but only a few years ago any one 
who expressed his belief in one formidable enough to cap- 
