1848-49 
THE GREAT SEA-SERPENT 
323 
at the Zoological Gardens died, and provided 
Owen with a subject for dissection and description 
in a paper which he contributed to the Zoological 
Society. 
In the following month Sir Robert Peel pre- 
sented him with an enormous trout weighing 
22I lbs., caught in the Tame, near Tamworth. ‘ It 
is an extraordinarily handsome fish,’ Owen writes 
(November 6 ), ‘with most brilliant colours.’ A por- 
trait of this huge fish was painted shortly after- 
wards, and was presented by Sir Robert Peel to 
Professor Owen. 
But another water-monster was then occupying 
public attention. Several persons of undoubted 
Veracity declared that they had seen the ‘ Great 
Sea-serpent,’ and brought much corroborative 
detail into their accounts, which were clearly given 
in good faith. The description given of a sea- 
nionster which was reported to have been seen 
by the officers and crew of H.M.S. ‘Daedalus’ 
attracted more than the usual notice, for the posi- 
tion and intelligence of the observers guaranteed 
the truth of their story. Considerable correspon- 
dence ensued, and Owen made a strong attack upon 
the identification of the creature, and extended 
his arguments so as to include the improbability 
Or mistaken nature of other statements which had 
preceded it. He founded his arguments on the 
fact that in all the stories and drawings of supposed 
great sea-serpents there was no undulation at al 
