Show DONT JOSH THE EA SERPENT JAN the sea serpent be longer CAN denied 1 I lt t the remnant ot of a mon men species supposedly 0 addly extinct aler or some adventurer u from the deep sea lair ot of a modern race of lovla lovid thans as yet undiscovered by science clence such queries I 1 have been flinging at some ome distinguished naturalists natura lists with widely varying results which I 1 shall proceed to report at once especially inasmuch as aa nay my investigation brings to light the scientifically established fact that august Is our sea aea serpent month par excellence 11 1 incline rather to belief than to toun un belief in the moster director frederick A lucas lucaa ot of the american mu ot of natural history told roe me the buggee t sea eit serpents we know of ived ved IP IL the eocene period says bays he be tako take for instance tho the lie ha would tally perfectly with some of tho the most moat sensational sea eca serpent descriptions which we hear bear year after year the grew as large as 70 feet to in length and eight feet in diameter lite ills head bead was small and pointel ills jaws wore well armed with grasping and putting cutting teeth just back of hla his head bead he carried a pair of short paddles not unlike those thoe of a fur seal ile he must have reared at least a third of his great length out ot of the wilter to take a comprehensive view 0 ot I 1 the surroundings ills tall tail must have ha ye propelled him at a speed of from ae to 30 an hour a were once very numerous in the gulf of mexico also the old reas coas of southern europe they have been called whal king lizards but in reality were mammals not tiles the to Is usually thought to be ba the ancestor of the whale hale m but I 1 think he died without issue one ona recent sea serpent story in ty hach director lucas lucaa takes some stock la Is that of the captain of the sh ship ip fly who states that while becalmed in the quit gulf of california in 12 fathoms of remarkably clear water some examples let us dispose of ono one of the most moat conspicuous pictures picture li q 0 the sea cea serpent yet printed this Is IB given in a work of erik dan bishop of bergen norway who wrote more than a century and a halt half ago describing giant sea aea serpents and mermaids which he be believed really existed lie ho being a godly man should not be distrusted entirely this monster was represented with its front portion out of water and as ai having a large frill about its neck its tall tail was long and tapering and ended in a spiral curve autye prom from its mouth issued a jet of water or vapor now certainly such a form does not exist but what was it itt well now lets look at the cuttlefish or squid some of these have been found as long as 60 feet the tall tail of such a giant cuttlefish may have been taken for tho the head bead of this monster serpent the fine of the tall tail corresponding apan sp dlag to the trills brills described the spiral tall tail might easily have been 4 one of the great cuttlefishes curved arms appearing out of the water and the let jet of water might have been t the he siphon of the cuttlefish cutt lengh by which it propels itself in the water how much imagination would be required to add the unreasonable features ot of this picture what proved for a time to be the tha most moat successful sea serpent hoax on record according to dr pill was perpetrated pet rated in new york by a p pseudo e u do sel englat dr albert C koch in 1845 1846 lie ile exhibited on broadway Dro adway the skeleton of an alleged fossil monster which he named ag os or sea bea king alie ali e rent remains ains including the head and verte vertebrae bree measured no less than feet over all and the people of new york as a well as of other american cities visited were greatly excited over the discovery of tangible proof that the long suspected sea serpent existed but finally prof wyman a naturalist of considerable examined the skeleton and discovered it to be a composite including the bones of several a r an v k ho he saw crawling over the bottom aa extraordinary lizard like altti ath lone serpent like neck short tall tail and four our uppers flippers like those of a turtle the naturalist regards it as remark able to may ear the least that this per who doubtless doubt leBs had never heard of a should thus describe one with amazing accuracy both at aa to form and probable habit babit the director regards it an aa just juat BB as possible for the plesiosaur to survive as R for or some borne of our sharks harks which date back to the same aine geologic period in the accompanying group of three gigantic sea bea lizards you will perceive in an tit left foreground the terrible the most moat colossal colo seal and moat serpent like ot of all that ancient group with its whale like body long and flexible nock neck short paddles and serpentine tall it would answer well to popular descriptions of the sell sea serpent its tremendous size la Is attested by its ita vertebrae some of 0 which now preserved are nearly na as large as a those of the elephant in tho the right background of 0 the picture to Is tta its cousin the ot of which no fewer than ten species are known to have inhabited tills this part of 0 the world nix ix having been found in new jersey this terrible sea lizard attained a length of 0 40 feet its bead was waa flat and pointed and its lower jaw was waa provided with an attachment ot of carti cartilage lege toy by which it could open its mouth to enormous enor moua extent in the tha tamo name manner as aa the modern snake the central floine in this group tit IB another creatures known as aa the lae lopa a great kangaroo like lizard which frequented the land there are no roomier monster men BOB serpents was the emphatic reply of 0 dr theodore Tho odore N GUI 1111 the distinguished ichthyologist of the smithsonian institution ution there Is no animal ot of gigantic size alze now living in the sea which could be properly classed as a serpent or even a it Is possible that it a great oela chian related to the trilled shark of japan may bo be found in the seas this would have an vel cel ilke body a fin bade back of the head bead and if very long would agree to tome ome extent with descriptions of the great sea aea serpent ler pent As aa a matter of fact there wu was discovered not many years ago a small snakelike snake like shark re del embling tho the grap sharks found in the pacific do you regard all reports of 0 monster mes ea serpents as pure the imagination I 1 asked dr gill most moat oft the wonderful creatures made the subject of sea serpent bex pent stories doubtless are living animals of some ome bort 11 tie be replied 1 I will give 4 strung together when last heard of i by dr gill this sea serpent was bold abad by koch to the museum of dresden the accompanying photograph ot of the fk rk eleton ota of a properly mounted has bab been furnished m me a by dr and was made from th the e un equaled specimen obtained by the smithsonian some time ago from our abu thern coast the federal bureau of fisheries has been hunting bunting the sea serpent ever since it was founded its if second om in command dr hugh NI smith united states deputy commissioner of fisheries sherlea Ft told me yesterday how ho he has personally followed to io their mire lairs two or three of the most horrible of these creatures creature crea turea is while scientists are not in accord on the question dr smith thinks that some circumstantial evidence recently gathered will perhaps weaken the belief of some intelligent persons persona who have heretofore denied the possibility or of the existence at this day of marine monsters comparable to those of geological times A zealous champion of tho sea serpents reality la Is dr A C Ou Oud domani emans the well known zoologist zo after collecting all obtainable reports of sen sea serpent visitations along our eastern coast and throwing out palpable cheats kad hoaxes he has obtained evidence of 68 66 such monsters reported between newfoundland and florida within a period of years those these monsters monster he says are migra tory tofy and that they do not like cold water to Is shown shon by the fact that none has been reported along our coasts bo be tween november and january inclusive while only two have hare been seen durant february march and april their return with warm weather he however Is 1 shown by the record ot of three in may nine in june seven in july and finally dually a round couple of dozen in august vil dillich lich as aa stated Is our son ben serpent month par ex cellen cak after this tho the visitations taper off four in september two in october and none non in november the fact that comparatively few ol oj these monsters mo have been reported from rom our pacific coast Is according to dr Oud emans due dua to wo tho fact that the greater ocean Is far less lesa frequented by ocean passengers rather than tj ta the probable absence of such buch creatures crea tares from its ita waters the tea bes serpent Is a grest mammal most nearly related to the sea bear according to this naturalist in view of some omo zoologists tho the great was waa closely related to this sarae same species specie but its greatest known length 70 feet la Is far surpassed by the feet attributed by dr to 0 o hl hypothetical creature which he says ampre app eurit to have hare a bead resembling that of tho the tea sea lion an aa eel like neck ft a hairy balry seal eal like trunk with two flip filp pere pera on each ach 5 side ide annl a taper tapering jok pointed tail the males of this species cecle pe cle like tl those I 1 0 of the seal leal he thinks are sad probably 1 y adorned orned with the mane which figures so persistently tn in sea aea serpent descriptions |