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Show 1 9 0 6 . ] AX UNKNOWN MARINE ANIMAL. 721 fast, and quickly drew away from the object, which was going very slowly. It moved its neck from side to side in a peculiar manner : the colour of the head and neck was dark brown above, and whitish below-almost white, I think. When first seen it was about level with the poop of the yacht, and on the starboard side. I made it out by the chart to be in about S. lat. 7° 4', long. 34° 20', but I think this is not quite correct. M r . Nicoll got the correct position from the captain. The depth of the water where we saw it was about 300 fathoms, but quickly went to as much as 1300 fathoms. Since I saw this creature I consider on reflection that it was probably considerably larger than it appeared at first, as I proved that objects, the size with which I was well acquainted, appear very much smaller than they really are when seen on the ocean at a similar distance with nothing to compare them with." E. G. B. M e a d e -W aldo . " At 10.15 a .m . on Thursday, December 7, 1905, when in lat. 7° 14' S., long. 34° 25' W., in a depth of from 322 to 1340 fathoms, Meade-Waldo and I saw a most extraordinary creature about 100 yards from the ship and moving in the same direction, but very much slower than we were going. At first, all that we could see was a dorsal fin about four feet long sticking up about two feet from the water; this fin was of a brownish-black colour and much resembled a gigantic piece of ribbon seaweed. Below the water we could indistinctly see a very large brownish-black patch, but could not make out the shape of the creature. Every now and then the fin entirely disappeared below the water. Suddenly an eel-like neck about six feet long and of the thickness of a man's thigh, having a head shaped like that of a turtle, appeared in front of the fin. This head and neck, which were of the same colour above as the fin, but of a silvery-white below, lashed up the water with a curious wriggling movement. After this it was so far astern of us that we could make out nothing else. " During the next fourteen hours we 4 went about ' twice and at about 2 a .m . the following day (Dec. 8th), in lat. 7° 19' S., long. 34° 04' W., the first and third mates, Mr. Simmonds and Mr. Harley, who were on the bridge at the time, saw a great commotion in the water. At first they thought it was a rock awash about 100-150 yards away on the port side, just aft of the bridge, but they soon made out that it was something moving and going slightly faster than the ship, which at that time was doing about 8 j knots. Mr. Simmonds hailed the deck, and one of the crew who was on the 1 look-out ' saw it too. Although there was a bright moon at the time they could not make out anything of the creature itself, owing to the amount of wash it was making; but they say that from the commotion in the water it looked as if a submarine was going along just belowT the surface. They both say most emphatically that it was not a whale, and that it was not blowing, nor have they ever seen anything like it before. After they had watched it for several minutes it * sounded ' off the port bow, and they saw no more of it." M ic h a e l J . N ic o l l . 48* |