Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1854-08-10
Miseellanp.


iaSo' uAl' L OdCltg RCuliOutou WuOSG udtUO ~
familiar TO all working men of science, as pos
sessing the property of an accurate and in,elli-
gent observer, tells us that few weeks ago
specimen Of a singular and'tase serpeniine fish
was cast on shore in Sinclair's Bay, few
miles from the town Of Wick in Scotland
This water monster certainly is a very fine sea-
snake, though not perhaps the well known sea-
serpent of fiction.
When it was brought in il had been much
mangled aud cut about by the fishermen, who
styled it Ciel-lonin-a name very apt to he
corrupted into Sea Lion by those who have
caught, from time to time, only glimpses of the
head, which displays sort of mane
Only few specimens Of the animal have
hitherto been described as having been found
on the British shores. Those which have been
described were all Of considerable size; but
the last caught is the monster among monsters.
His length is fifteen feet six inches, from the
eyes only, TO not quite the lip Of the tall The
two ends of him are immeasurable, because
off, while the whole of the head up 10 the eve
has been knocked TO pieces, partly by the fish
ermen and partly by the creature itself in its
death struggles. Another foot might therefore
be added to the measurable length The
greatest depth Of his body is one foot two inch
es, and it would require a skewer three and a
half tnabac lnprr ~ trons6v him -
the thckest part. His eyes are perfect, an
inch and a half across, having the pupil dark
and iris silvery these eyes are so placid, near
the top of the head, that they would be con-
spicuous objects while the creature swan upon
the surface of the water. The head as before
said, is mutilated so much that little can be
said about it. There are, visible upon it,
s,umps Of cluster of spine-like fins, well
adapted for the support Of long crest, which
probably existed until boat-hook dealt about
the snakes head its destructive blows. Upor
the ridge Of his back, extending along the
whole length, is the dorsal fin; but the top
part of il is nearly all rubbed off, The skin is
Of beautiful siIvery color, with fine dark
bands that pass down from head TO TAIL The
vertebral column is not of bone at all, but
gristly, and not ihree-quarIers Of an inch
across. When cut through it shows merely
as flon filled with jely-like substance.
AS TO the actual nature Of this rare visitor,
all competent authorities agree that it is large
large example of the gymnetrus, a visitor
known better by the name Of riband-fsh or
deal-fsh.
We do not intend 10 enter into debate
about the sea-serpent. That would be cruel
to our readers. Let US, however, say, that
against the possibility Of its existence one of
the strongest arguments used was, that if such
animals were in being, some portion Of their
skeletons, especially bits of the backbone,
would have been thrown ashore. Now here
we have creature Of snake-llke form, six
teen feet in length that is to say, two feet
longer than any similar monster of the snake
kind, before found. II is crowned with long
bendulous tuft on the back Of the head, which
would we'll represent the name which sea-ser-
pent seers have always described. Swimming
as the fish does on its edge, and not fiat like
sole or halibut, the extreme thinness compared
with the depth would give it great rapidty of
motion, and the fexibilItY of the extremely
delicate cartilaginous spinal column-nowhere
an inch thck-woud cause its manner of pro-
gression to be very like that Of serpent.
The greatest wonders of the deep are almost
hidden from the eye of man, These meteorc
silver-coated fishes appear 10 reside in the
depths, and it is only at long intervals, and
after succession Of tempests, that solitary
individual is sometimes cast upon the shore );
where lis delicate body is found torn and mutt
lated by the elements and on the rocks.
Mr.. Peach's fish of sixteen feet long, seen at
distance-swimming as it it would swim
when at the surface Of the Vater with It's crest
and dorsal fin exposed, its silvery shining
sides, and the long wake left by lis peculiar
mo!ion-mIght, at distance, be considered
by surprised eyes, thirty feet in length, or
even more. But, when we remember that the
samples taken on the British shores ehave been
found 10 comparatively narrow, shallow, and
cold seas, and were probably but small and
sickly specimens carried against their will out
of the depths Of their own oceans, in warmer
climates, we may easily conceive that others of
the kind very much larger may be dwellers
there. 1t is we'll known that the backbone of
the largest shark becomes mass of jelly very
soon after putrefaction has commenced, and
we may argue that should fish of the kind
here mentioned, even ten times its size be met
with, the vertebre would be only seven inches
and half across and, being also Trailer than
the sharks, they would still sooner perish.
1t is an interesting fact that the first recorded
specimen of the fish here thoroughly described
was found near Lands End, in Cornwall and
this, the last, near John 0 'Groat's, Caithness /;
the others in places situated between these ex-
IRENE points, Thus they take the range Of the
whole coast of Great Britian, washed by the
British Channel and the German Ocean but
hitherto the appearance of no such creature has
been noticed in Ireland.
A poor loafer on hearing that they charged
five dollars day for board in California, said
he should go there and live, as he wished to