Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber’s Notes

Texts printed in italics and bold face or spaced in the source
document have been transcribed between _underscores_, =equal signs=
and ~tildes~ respectively. Superscript x is represented by ^x and
^{xx}. Small capitals have been transcribed as ALL CAPITALS.

More Transcriber’s Notes and a list of changes made may be found at
the end of this text.

THE GREAT SEA-SERPENT.

THE GREAT SEA-SERPENT.

AN HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL TREATISE.

WITH THE REPORTS OF 187 APPEARANCES (INCLUDING
THOSE OF THE APPENDIX), THE SUPPOSITIONS AND
SUGGESTIONS OF SCIENTIFIC AND
NON-SCIENTIFIC PERSONS, AND THE AUTHOR’S CONCLUSIONS.

WITH 82 ILLUSTRATIONS.

BY
A. C. OUDEMANS, JZN.,
DOCTOR OF ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MEMBER OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF THE
NETHERLANDS, DIRECTOR OF THE ROYAL ZOOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL
SOCIETY (ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS) AT THE HAGUE.

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, OCTOBER 1892.

LEIDEN,
E. J. BRILL,
Oude Rijn 33^a.

LONDON,
LUZAC & Co.,
Great Russell Street 46.

[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]

PRINTED AT E. J. BRILL’S, AT LEIDEN.

~THIS VOLUME~
IS
DEDICATED
TO
~OWNERS OF SHIPS AND YACHTS,~
SEA CAPTAINS
AND
~ZOOLOGISTS.~

“It is always unsafe to deny positively any phenomena that may be
wholly or in part inexplicable; and hence I am content to believe
that one day the question will be satisfactorily solved”.--A. G.
MELVILLE. (_See p. 397 of the present volume._)

Voyagers and sportsmen conversant with photography are requested to take the instantaneous photograph of the animal: this alone will convince zoologists, while all their reports and pencil-drawings will be received with a shrug of the shoulders.

As these animals are very shy, it is not advisable to approach them with a steamboat.

The _only_ manner to kill one _instantly_ will be by means of _explosive_ balls, or by harpoons loaden with nitro-glycerine; but as it most probably will sink, when dead, like most of the Pinnipeds, the harpooning of it will probably be more successful.

If an individual is killed, take the following measurements:--1. Length of the head from nose-tip to occiput.--2. Length of the neck from occiput to shoulders.--3. Length of the trunk from shoulders to tail-root.--4. Length of the tail from tail-root to end.--5. Distance from shoulders to fore-flappers.--6. Distance from shoulders to thickest part of the body.--7. Length of a fore-flapper.--8. Length of a hind-flapper.--9. Circumference of the head.--10. Circumference of the neck.--11. Circumference of the thickest part of the body.--12. Circumference of the tail-root.

Give a description of the animal, especially an accurate one of the head, the fore-flappers and the hind-flappers, and, if possible, make a sketch.

If but barely possible, preserve the whole skeleton, and the whole skin, but if this is utterly impracticable, keep the cleaned skull, the bones of one of the fore-flappers and those of one of the hind-flappers, four or five vertebrae of different parts of the backbone, neck, and tail; and preserve the skin of the head, and a ribbon of about a foot breadth along the whole back of the neck, the trunk, and the tail.