Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-01-05
FISH STORIES.

In accordance with joint resolution OF
Congress the Public Printer has published q
volume of matter furnished him by Profes-
| sor Spencer F. Baird, United States Commis
sioner Of Fish and Fisheries, relative to new
observations, discoveries and applications
connected with fish culture and the fisher
les. The volume consists of reports and
contributions from over two hundred
| sources, both official and non official, giving
vast number Of interesting details con-
corning the progress of fish culture in all
| sections Of the United States and in foreign
countries.
Among the fish stories recorded in this
volume, l.. 3. Crocker, an internal revenue
collector at Aurora, H., reports the catch
ing of small mouthed black bass in the
Fox River twenty-three inches in length
and weighing seven pounds and six ounces.
Professor Richard A. Proctor furnishes an
account of the discovery of a marine mon
ster, and revives the New England descrip-
ton of the ''sea serpent" He says:
While the boats of Captain Seymours
bark Hope On were on the watch for whales
OIL the Pearl Islands (between forty and
fifty miles from Panama) the water broke
Il short distance away, and Captain Sey.
mour made ready for whale, but head
like that of horse rose from the water and
then dived. The creature was seen by all
the boats crew. Captain Seymour describes
the animal as almost twenty feet in length.
with handsome horse-like head, with tw"
unicorn shaped horns protruding from II.
The creature had four legs or double jointed
| fins, q brownish hide, profusely speck led
| q
appeared to be divided into parts. The
creature was seen on two different days.
and if whales had not been about at the
time an effort would have been made to
catch it. Captain Seymour and his officers
agree in considering that the creature is
peculiar to the locality, and that it could
easily be killed with ances and guns. Ii L
| important to notice that officers of the
Pacific Mail Company state that they have
seen the animal on several occasions, hu!
not so closely as did the officers and men OF
the Hope On.
The nearest account Of any strange ami
NAL akin to that seen by Captain Sey ynour
and his men is the account of q marine
creature, supposed to be sea serpent, seen
in 1917, near Cape Ann, Mass. Eleven wit
nesses of good reputation gave on oath before
magistrates lone of whom had himself seer
what they had a description of creature
like a serpent dark brown in color (some
said motledl, with white under the head
and neck. The head of this creature was
as large as horses but shaped like SER
pents, and the animal was estimated as ex-
ceedng fifty feet in length.
Colonel Perkins noticed an appearance in
front of the head like single horn, but
other observers thought this was the mon
ster's tongue The evidence now obtained
confirms the theory which was advanced in
1S4S and has since been maintained by
Gosse and others. that race of marine
auimals exists, including probably several
varieties, which is characterized by ser
pentine neck, head small compared with
the body but large compared with the
thickness Of the neck, an air breather
and deriving its propulsve power from pad
| dies; in other words, modern representa-
tive of the long necked plesiosaurians of the
| great Secondary or Mesozoic era. Crea.
| lures Of this class have been aptly pared
| to what would be formed by drawing SER
pent through the body sea turtle.