51 
ren 
MA 
reuarfw 
ite a D^ 
o tlus“* 
10 SO 11^ 
rnce; * 
sped * 1,1 
old l ** 11 
ere it ft* 
► qoesd®? 
partk^! 
and cloudy, and the sea rough. Then, although sixty feet of the length of 
■the animal were estimated to have been seen at one time above the surface 
of the water, neither the undulatory motion, nor the characteristic pro¬ 
tuberances of the quasi sea serpent, were noticed; lastly, the sketch given, 
with Captain M‘Qhae’s approval, in the Illustrated London News , of 
28th October last, does certainly not convey the idea of the original 
having been a serpent or any other reptile. Captain M‘Qhae, however, 
continues in this belief; and Lieutenant Drummond, whose account of 
the appearance varies materially from his chief’s, nevertheless received 
the impression at the time, that the shape of the animal was serpentiform. 
These opinions, formed on the spot, and on the general coup d’ceil of 
the living and moving creature, should have their due weight on our 
judgment. 
Professor Owen, whose scientific reasoning, and reasonable conjectures, 
in the opinion of many persons, may he thought to have exhausted the 
subject, repudiating the idea of a eete, and not alluding to the possibility of 
a selache or shark, finds an easier solution of the question of the identity of 
the “mysterious stranger” in the alternative of a shipwrecked sea elephant. 
Having had a recent opportunity of examining the specimen of this 
species of seal, which is in the Liverpool Museum of Natural History, 
and is, perhaps, the largest and best preserved in the kingdom, the author 
can raise no objections to this hypothesis, except in relation to the size, 
which, in the fullest-grown individuals, is not half that estimated by 
Captain M‘Qhae to have been the dimensions of the “ Daedalus” animal. 
How far his estimates may have been overrated is open to question, but 
according to the experience of those conversant with marine matters, the 
tendency in judging of objects seen floating at sea, and just “ a-wash,” is to 
underrate their bulk rather than to exaggerate, and more especially so in 
rough weather. The colour of the sea elephant preserved at Liverpool, 
is dark brown throughout; and so Dr. Traill describes it when the animal 
was first brought to the museum, about twenty years ago. Below, upon the 
belly, the hair shaded away to a yellowish bay colour. 
It may also be doubted whether this seal ever swims at the rate of twelve 
or fourteen miles an hour; and in the particular instance before us, such 
velocity is still less likely, seeing that the seal, if a seal, must have been 
more or less exhausted; and is described as going against a strong head 
swell, with the wind abeam. 
Turning to Lieut. Drummond’s version, as communicated to the Athe¬ 
naeum in December last, we read as follows:— 
