"In regard to Mr. Headlam's estimate of the rate of speed of the animal seen by him, and which might be considered an exaggeration, I append an extract from a popular account of seals, contained in the Museum of Animated Nature, at page 222:—'The common seal can remain under water for about five minutes, and swims so rapidly that, if alarmed, it will proceed nearly half a mile during that period.'
"While the description of the ursine seal, 'lowing like a calf,' and of the sea elephant, 'in which the voice is deep, hoarse, and terrific,' may give the clue to the mysterious sounds said to have been heard at night issuing from many of the Victorian lakes, and notably, if my memory serves me correctly, from Lake Werribee [Modewarre].
"Now even should the animals, whose existence seems proved upon such good testimony, simply prove to be known seals, a good and substantial foundation for the Bun-yip story will have been arrived at. The mysterious appearance and horrible sounds will be fully accounted for, and a very interesting and novel page in the chapter of seals supplied to us. How much more interesting then will be the discovery should they prove to differ specifically or even generically from any hitherto described form, and to be some fresh-water-inhabiting mammal, analagous or allied to 'the otter-like or seal-like animal' whose existence in the rivers and lakes of the mountain districts of New Zealand has recently been established by Dr. Haast without doubt.—(See Hochstetter's New Zealand, page 161.) Dr. Haast writes, in June 1861:—'At a height of 3,500 feet above the level of the sea, I frequently saw its tracks on the Upper Ashburton River, in a region never before trodden by man. They resemble the tracks of our European otter, only a little smaller. The animal itself, however, was likewise seen by two gentlemen who have a sheep station at Lake Heron, not far from the Ashburton, 2,100 feet high. They describe the animal as dark-brown, of the size of a stout cony. On being struck at with the whip, it uttered a shrill yelping sound, and quickly disappeared in the water among the sea grass.'
"I may, in conclusion, mention that, while on a recent visit to Sydney, I saw in the Museum a young specimen of a species of seal entirely new to me, of which the color was black, like that of the Wagga individual, but concerning which Mr. Gerard Krefft was unable to give me further information than that it was caught near Newcastle, New South Wales. Mr. Krefft also tells me that one seal in that collection had lived on platypuses, and must have been a great distance from salt water."
The following letter, corroborative of the statements in Mr. Gould's paper, was read to the Royal Society at a meeting held in October 1872:—
"Sir,—I have to acknowledge receipt of a letter from Mr. Charles Gould, soliciting information from me of a strange animal seen in the pools of the Jordan. My reason for not complying with the request before was that I was not able to see the parties in consequence of the dreadful state of the weather and the flooded state of the River Jordan. I have since obtained the information required, and will now state what I know of the affair.
