ew England,"
whose prompt action caused the various reports about the matter to be
carefully sifted, and the result placed before the public in an
authentic manner. This society met at Boston on the 18th of August, and
appointed a committee to collect evidence in regard to the existence and
appearance of the strange animal.

The committee consisted of the Hon. John Davis, Jacob Bigelow, M.D., and
Francis C. Gray, Esq., all men of the highest respectability, and of
undoubted fitness and capacity for the work they were to undertake, and
the result of their labors was published in a pamphlet of fifty-two
pages, the title of which cautiously states that the report is "relative
to a large marine animal, supposed to be a serpent, seen near Cape Ann,
Massachusetts, in August, 1817." It was accompanied by an engraving of
the "_Scoliophis Atlanticus_," the small snake captured near Loblolly
Cove, representing the animal at full length, about three feet, and also
in parts after dissection, with full explanations.

From this pamphlet it appears that on the 19th the committee wrote to
Hon. Lonson Nash, a magistrate of Gloucester, asking him to examine upon
oath some of those who had seen the animal, not allowing them to
communicate with each other the substance of their respective statements
till they were all committed to writing, and proposing certain rules
with regard to the method of conducting the examination, as well as a
list of twenty-five carefully prepared questions to be put to the
persons examined.

Eight depositions received from Mr. Nash, and three others taken in
Boston, all read before the Society on the 1st of September, are given
in full, as well as further correspondence with Mr. Nash, and various
accounts of similar appearances in former years and at other places. The
committee seem to have no doubt but that the depositions were truthful
and accurate, and suggest that the small serpent which they describe may
have been of the same species as the larger one, and possibly its
progeny.

The eight depositions taken at Gloucester were those of Amos Story,
mariner; Solomon Allen, 3d, shipmaster; Epes Ellery, shipmaster; William
H. Foster, merchant; Matthew Gaffney, ship carpenter; James Mansfield,
merchant; John Johnston, Jr., a boy of seventeen; and William B.
Pearson, merchant. The deponents were selected for their probity; each
of them saw the serpent at different times and under different
circumstances, and t