The romance of natural history, second seriesGosse, Philip Henry
History
The romance of natural history, second series
Gosse, Philip Henry
Natural history
[230] "Affinities of the Stylopites," in _Zool._, 1792.
[231] Wiegmann's _Archiv._, 1860, _Bericht_, p. 169.
[232] _Ann. Nat. Hist._ for April, 1861.
[233] _Zool._, 204.
[234] _Ibid._, 205.
[235] _Zool._, 2589.
[236] Newman, _Hist. of Insects_, 50.
APPENDIX.
ON THE SEA-SERPENT.
Since the publication of my former volume, which concluded with an
examination of the evidence for the existence of this unrecognised
animal, two other important testimonies have been brought under my
notice. The first of these is that of an officer of high literary
reputation, the Consular representative of Great Britain lately residing
at Boston, in the United States, who thus gives his personal testimony
and that of his lady to the appearance of the monster:--
"On a Sunday afternoon in the middle of August, above a hundred persons,
at that time in and about the hotel, were called on to observe an
extraordinary appearance in the sea, at no great distance from the
shore. Large shoals of small fish were rushing landwards in great
commotion, leaping from the water, crowding on each other, and shewing
all the common symptoms of flight from the pursuit of some wicked enemy.
I had already more than once remarked this appearance from the rocks,
but in a minor degree; and on these occasions I could always distinguish
the shark, whose ravages among the "manhaidens" was the cause of such
alarm. But the particular case in question was far different from those.
The pursuer of the fugitive shoals soon became visible; and that it was
a huge marine monster, stretching to a length quite beyond the
dimensions of an ordinary fish, was evident to all the observers. No
one, in short, had any doubt as to its being the sea-serpent, or one of
the species to which the animal or animals so frequently before seen
belonged. The distance at which this one was, for ten minutes or a
quarter of an hour, visible, made it impossible to give a description of
its apparent dimensions so accurate as to carry conviction to the
sceptical. For us who witnessed it, it was enough to be convinced that
the thing was a reality. But one of the spectators, Dr Amos Binney, a
gentleman of scientific attainments, drew up a minute account of it,
which is deposited in the archives of one of the Philosophical Societies
of Boston. I was and am quite satisfied that on this occasion I had a
partial and indistinct but positive view of this celebrated nondescript.
But had the least doubt rested on my mind, it would have been entirely
removed by the event of the day following the one just recorded. On that
day, a little before noon, my wife was sitting, as was her wont, reading
on the upper piazza of the hotel. She was alone. The gentlemen,
including myself and my son, were, as usual, absent at Boston, and the
ladies were scattered about in various directions. She was startled by a
cry from the house of "The sea-serpent! The sea-serpent!" But this had
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