Peter Rabbit in the Loch Ness

The Times has an excerpt from a letter by Beatrix Potter offering a scientific opinion on the Loch Ness monster’s humps:

Armed with an innate understanding of frogs, toads and newts, she wrote in 1934 to the author of a book on the Loch Ness Monster: “May I hazard a suggestion about the humps? These beasts — whatever they are — frequent deep waters. They are able to sustain immense variations of pressure. I suggest that the humps mainly result from a power of self inflation under a very elastic skin for the purpose of equalising pressure. Frogs & toads, especially the latter, have power of inflation. Toads let off acrid water. Their inflation is in the belly. But it is conceivable that this beast may have a very loose elastic skin all round its body.”

(Via Maud.)