Part 106

18. A large ribbon-fish, Gymnetrus or Regalecus. (Mr. A. G. MORE, 1856).

19. A floating dead tree, or bamboo, or a weed-laden log of wood. (Mr. ARTHUR ADAMS, 1860).

20. A mass of flying birds. (Mr. JOSEPH DREW, 1878).

21. A large sea-turtle. (Mr. ANDREW WILSON, 1879).

22. A gigantic calamary. (Mr. ANDREW WILSON, 1879? or Mr. HENRY LEE, 1883).

23. A manatee. (Mr. SEARLES VALENTINE WOOD JUN., 1880).

* * * * *

I have bracketed the names of the authors who, as far as I could discover, were the first to express the supposition to which their name is added. The dates are those at which they published their supposition.

Of all these explanations those are the best, which are not the result of reading one single report (1, 3, 4, 5, 11, 14, 15, 16), which are not mere suppositions without any foundation (6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 21, 23), which are not offered by persons who a moment ago saw a deceitful object or animal (17, 18, 19, 20, 22), but which are the result of a study of several accounts and reports. They are those marked 2, 9 and 10. And of these n^o. 10 is the most admissible, because the Plesiosaurus in its outlines most resembles the sea-serpent. Why, however, is the sea-serpent not a Plesiosaurus? I have already summed up some reasons, when treating of this explanation, but the principal reasons are the mammalian characters, habits and behaviour of the sea-serpent; I will try to prove this in the next chapter.

VI.

Conclusions.

The Libraries from which I borrowed the greater part of the works treating of the subject were:

The Royal Library at the Hague,

The Library of the Leiden University,

The Library of the Utrecht University,

The Library of the Groningen University,

The Library of the Amsterdam University,

The Library of the Royal University at Göttingen,

The Library of the Royal Zoological Society “Natura Artis Magistra” at Amsterdam,

The Library of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Amsterdam,

The Library of the Museum of Natural History at Leiden,

The Library of the Dutch Zoological Society at den Helder, and

The Library of the Dutch Entomological Society at Leiden.

In the part headed Literature on the Subject I have given an idea of the mass of works and articles written about it. I here present to my readers a list of the different appearances found by me in the works which I have consulted. Of each appearance I have noted down as far as possible, the date, the locality and the names of the observers. The numbers correspond with those in the 4th. Chapter.

* * * * *

1.--1522.--Near the Isle of Moos, Norway.

2.--1640.--Most probably in the Sound between Sweden and Denmark.--Burgomaster of Malmö.

3.--1687.--Damsfjord in Norway.--Several persons, and at one time eleven persons together.