The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1884-06-13
The Trail of the sea-serpent.

We might naturally expect to look
for sea-monsters In the tropics, but
here we find that tho creature which is
called the sea-serpent has invariably
been seen in northern ATTITUDES, and
| always in the summer or autumn. Its
| size is tolerably uniform, wonderfully
so, indeed, considering the great diff
Guilty of estimating the length OF any
animal in the sea. The color is invari-
ably the same; those who saw only the
upper surface taking it to be ablack or
| blackish-brown, and those who saw
the undersurface describing it rs white
Those who saw the eyes describe them
| as prominent, and on the upper part of
the head The duration of each APP
pearance above the water is the same
throughout. The speed is given as the
same, that is, five or six knots per
hour, and every one seems to have
noticed the foam or spray thrown up
before it, and the wake left behind it.
Had the narrators wished to extol the
dangers which they had run in encoun-
tering so dreadful monster, they
would have reported it as fierce and
irritable. But, on the contrary, all
agree in stating that it is perfectly
harmless creature, and that even when
it appeared to be attacking a boat it
turned off short and changed its course.
lmposers would have armed its mouth
with frightful teeth, whereas not only
teeth are not mentioned, but the Prn-
cess was so close to the animal that tho
passengers looked into its open mouth,
and could ascertain that no teeth were
visible. All agree in the character Of
the undulating movement; /. G., that it
is vertical, and not lateral. The only
discrepancy is that between the ac-
counts of Mr.. Lawrence and Mr.. Was
son. But the former saw nothing but
the head and shoulders, whereas the
latter saw nothing but the back. Both
narrators agree in the color and the
speed, both carefully refraining from
the slightest mention of any detail
which they did not see.
Next comes the question: What can
this thing be? 1t is quite certain that
1t does not correspond with any con-
temporary animal at present known to
biologists. Mr.. Arthur Lawrence Of
fers suggestion that it may possibly
be surviving Plesiosaurian, an idea,
by the way, which was ingeniously
used by the late Lord Lytton in his
Coming Race. The distance, however,
between the great saurians which are
now only known by their fossil re-
mains and those of the present day is
too wide to be bridged by a survivor.
But though not surviving saurian
it may be a survivor of some group of
animals which is on the verge of ex-
tinction. In the first place, it cannot
be a serpent, as the peculiar move
ments which have been described can
not be performed by serpent; the
structure of the vertebre prohibiting
them.
There are plenty of sea-serpents,
none Of them measuring more than q
few feet in length and all have the tail
tlattened sideways, so that they undu-
late through the water, just as an eel
does. The monster in question how
ever, undulates up and down, like a
caterpillar" Now, the only marine
animals which possess this power are
those belonging to the whale tribe.
These, as is seen from the structure
of their vertcbrW, can undulate up and
down, but not sideways, the proiec-
tons on either side of each vertebra
intorlocking with the vertebra immcdi-
ately behind it. Now, suppose that
there might be much-elongated ceta-
cean, being to the rest of the whales
what the cells are to the fishes, the
creature would behave exactly as our
sea-serpent behaved. Every movement
of the creature is cetacean. The habit
of pushing the head out of the water is
distinctly cetacean, the sperm-whales
being much addicted to this custom.
The caterpillar-like bend of the body
is also cetacean, and may be witnessed
any day when school of porpoises
curve their graceful course over the
waves. The sudden rising of the body,
as described by Mr.. WATSON, is also a
cetacean characteristic. The whales,
when their lungs are inflated, are lit
tie lighter than water. But they pos
sess tho power of contracting their
whole bodies, SO that they can sink
like stones,- property which is ex-
tremely exasperating to the whale
fishers. When they relax the muscu-
lar apparatus by which this object is
effected, the body resumes its former
size, becomes lighter than water, and
surges to the surface, exactly as de-
scribed by Mr.. WATSON.
The unexpected harmlessness of so
powerful creature is another charac-
tcristic which, fortunately for man, be-
longs to the whales, -creatures which
never attack but under exceptional eli
cumstances. There are many whal
now known to science, some of the
Delng much more slender than other.
IL Is certain, moreover, that there are
many which are yet unknown. j. G.
Wood IN Jotne atlantic,