solitary habits, has given rise to these legends. And, once more, we have little doubt that the young, especially, of certain species of Whales, from their striking fashion of raising their heads perpendicularly above the wave, and so taking a deliberate survey of surrounding objects, may occasionally have led to the same result. Thus, then, in the ordinary cete, and in the Walrus and Seals, as well as in our herbivorous cete, are we to recognize the original types of nearly all these wondrous tales.

The small group, forming the herbivorous cete, is now divided into three genera, and about twice as many species: it consists of the Manatee of the West Indies, the Dugong of Eastern Seas, and the Stellerus, an inhabitant of the polar regions. As to their general character, we may note that their head is scarcely distinguished from the body by any neck; they have no blow-holes on the summit of the head, but nostrils on their snout; the shape of their body is pisciform; they have no dorsal fin; their tail is horizontal like that of the other cete, and they have not even the rudiments of the posterior extremity; their pectorals are quite swimming paws; their mammæ are pectoral; their skin is nearly destitute of hair, and their teeth are not those of carnivorous but of herbivorous animals.

We now proceed to the genera and species.

GENUS MANATUS, Cuv. Trichechus, Lin.

The Manatus derives its principal generic character from its swimming paws; these, different from what appears in its congeners, have four flat nails attached to the edge of the fin. The tail, too, is characteristic, being oval-shaped and long, extending to about one-fourth of the body.

THE MANATEE OF THE WEST INDIES.

PLATE XXVI.

Manatus Americanus, Cuv. Desm. Less.

WE are happy that, from the attention of the Duke of Manchester in transmitting a specimen of this animal to the Royal Society, we can present our readers with a faithful likeness taken from the Philosophical Transactions for 1821. This individual was a young one, which had not attained above a quarter of its full dimensions.

It will be observed that the form of the body is elongated. When fully grown, the animal attains, and often surpasses, the length of twenty feet, and weighs not less than three or four tons; twelve or fifteen feet are, however, its more common dimensions. The head is conical, without any mark of depression at its junction with the body; the muzzle is large and fleshy, and at its upper part is semicircular, where two small semi-lunar nostrils open. The upper lip is full and cleft in the middle. Two tufts of stiff bristles, of considerable size, are situated

at its sides; the lower lip is shorter, and more straight than the upper, and both are lined internally with short, hard, very thick hairs. The mouth is not large; the eyes are small. The only appearance of ears are two small fissures, which penetrate the skin. The swimming paws are much more free in their motions than those of the ordinary cete; the fingers are felt through the skin, and they possess considerable power and motion. The thumb

has no nail; the fingers have, though that of the little finger is particularly small. The surface of the body is of a greyish colour; the skin is coarsegrained, and very thick and strong, like a bull's hide; a few scattered and slender hairs appear upon it, most numerous at the angle of the mouth, and under the paws. The mamma, which are usually but little developed, enlarge during the period of lactation, and the milk is agreeable to the taste. The number of the vertebræ and the ribs is variously stated by Sir E. Home and Baron Cuvier. Both agree that the ribs are quite peculiar in their form.

The manners and dispositions of this animal are stated to be inoffensive, mild, and amiable. Buffon observes, that they are both intelligent and sociable, naturally not afraid of man, but free in approaching him, and following him with confidence. But they have especially a kindly feeling for their fellows. They usually associate in troops, and crowd together with the young in the centre, as if to protect them from harm, and when any danger besets them, each is

It

willing to bear its share in mutual defence or attack. When one has been struck with a harpoon, it has been noticed that the others tear the weapon from the flesh; and usually if the cubs be taken, the mother is careless of her own preservation, while if the mother be taken, the young follow her to the shore, where they themselves are captured. The Manatus is not found in deep waters. frequents the shallow bays among the West Indian Islands, and the sheltered creeks in the South American continent, particularly Guiana and the Brazils. It was, in former times, especially at the mouths of those vast rivers, the Oronoco and the Amazons, that these cete delighted, and lived in innumerable shoals. They also ascended many hundreds of miles, frequented their tributaries, and peopled the fresh. water lakes connected with them; and in these places were sometimes observed to be frolicsome, and to leap, as do the ordinary Whales, to great heights out of the water. The historian Binet remarked, that in his time there were certain places within ten or twelve leagues of Cayenne where they so abounded, that a large boatful could be procured in a day; and that they sold in the market for about threepence per pound. But the high estimation in which their flesh was generally held, and the avidity with which they were pursued, led ere long to a vast thinning of their numbers, till finally they have been almost exterminated in those countries which are thickly peopled.

The mode in which they were captured at St

Domingo, according to Oviedo, was as follows:"They were approached in a small boat, and struck with a large harpoon, to which a long and strong cord was attached. As soon as struck they make great efforts to escape, carrying the harpoon and cord along with them; to the extremity of the latter a cork, or piece of light wood, is affixed, which serves as a buoy, and indicates the movements of the wounded individual. Their victim being thus seized, his assailants return to shore, bringing them along with the end of the rope, and when the animal becomes exhausted, they begin to draw it on shore and despatch it." This perfectly agrees with the account we read in "The familiar Description of the Mosquito Kingdom."-" They yield the sporter no small diversion; for after having a dart or harpoon struck into their side, with a long line and buoy fastened to it, they hold some time in play, and will not leave the shoals, by which means they receive many lances and arrows from the Indians before they will be taken; many times they upset the boat in struggling."*

From this same work we extract the author's testimony regarding their excellency as an article of food::-" Their best fish is the Manatee. Most travellers in these parts that I have seen call it the best fish, if not flesh, in the world. They are sometimes found straggling in the lagunes in this country, but are not suffered to increase, through the

• Collection of Voyages, &c. fol. vol. vi. 312.