16 RGOLLETT. 
ythe Sea Serpent‘; and the Chlamydoselachus, in fact, appears to 
satisfy most demands of an ideal sea serpent. 
But all hitherto known specimens of the Chlamydoselachus, are 
of more modest dimensions than allowed by the representations of 
the said monstre. The specimen from the Varanger Fjord, which is the 
biggest of all (so far as their measurements are known), was barely two 
métres in length. It was, as previously stated, a female, with immature 
eggs in the oviducts, which at the time were in the course of deve- 
lopment, and the specimen was thus apparently full grown. Never- 
theless, it is by no means necessary to suppose that such a length is 
a limit to the dimensions to which it can attain. Many of our own 
kinds of fishes yield examples of individuals - being capable of pro- 
creation whilst still (it may be said) in their youth. 
It remains hereafter a question, which it will be most natural to 
all to put, whether there has been observed and really examined, a 
being which combines a bodily construction and appearance resembling 
that of the Chlamydoselachus, with the size of a ,Sea Serpent“ (or, 
in any case, one of moderate size). 
American naturalists reply that such a being has been observed 
at least on one occasion. It has been caught, examined by a ship’s 
crew, but again returned to the water, without science having been 
able to gain further particulars on which to base a judgment than the 
word of the master and crew, who, in this instance, deliberately threw 
away the opportunity of casting a light upon one of the most remarkable 
of marine animals that has ever been observed. 
It was in the year 1880, that this extraordinary individual’ had 
become entangled in a net laid down by a fishing smack off New 
Harbour (Maine). It was dead when hauled on board, and proved 
to be a long, eel-like fish about 24 to 25 feet in length, with a 
flattened head, round body, and rough skin like a shark’s. It had 
one dorsal fin, and many branchial clefts on each side of its head. 
It was examined by the crew during the course of quarter of an hour, 
but then thrown overboard as the skipper decided that ,if I landed it, 
I should lose 20 dollars that day in my business, and so could not 
afford to bother with it.“ 
Even 24 hours afterwards, the animal might have been obtained 
as it had sunk on a bank in but 4 fathoms. of water; but a gale 
Setting in, it could not afterwards be found. 
