The two strong objections to this theory are—first, the hypothetical improbability of such forms having been transmitted from the era of the secondary strata to the present time; and, second, the entire absence of any parts of the carcases or unfossilised skeletons of such animals in museums. Many fossil types, however, of marine animals have been transmitted, with or without interruption, from remote geological epochs to the present time; among these may be mentioned the Port Jackson Shark (_Cestracion_), and the gar‐pike (_Lepidosteus_), which have come down to us without interruption, the _Chimæra percopsis_ of Lake Superior, and soft‐shelled tortoises (_Trionychidæ_), with more or less apparent disappearance. The non‐occurrence of dead animals is of little weight as disproving the existence of the sea‐serpent; its carcase would float only a short time, and the rock‐bound coasts of Norway would be very unlikely to retain any fragment cast up by the waves; many whales being known to naturalists only from two or three specimens in many centuries. The conclusion of the best naturalists is that the existence of the sea‐ serpent is possibly a verity, and that it may prove to be some modified type of the secondary _Enaliosaurians_, or possibly some intermediate form between them and the elongated _Cetaceans_. CHAPTER XVII. BY THE SEA‐SHORE. English Appreciation of the Sea‐side—Its Variety and Interest—Heavy Weather—The Green Waves—On the Cliffs—The Sea from there—Madame de Gasparin’s Reveries—Description of a Tempest—The Voice of God—Calm—A Great Medusa off the Coast—Night on the Sea—Boating Excursion—In a Cavern—Colonies of Sea‐anemones—Rock Pools—Southey’s Description—Treasures for the Aquarium—A Rat Story—Rapid Influx of Tide and its Dangers—Melancholy Fate of a Family—Life Under Water. “In hollows of the tide‐worn reef, Left at low water glistening in the sun, Pellucid pools, and rocks in miniature, With their small fry of fishes, crushed shells, Rich mosses, tree‐like sea‐weed, sparkling pebbles, Enchant the eye, and tempt the eager hand To violate the fairy paradise.” The sea‐side is nowhere more thoroughly appreciated than in our own rock and water girt island, as the popularity of so many of our coast watering‐ places fully attests. The wonders of the shore are so many and varied that they would require volumes like the present to do them full justice. Here, then, the subject can only be briefly discussed.(51)