1G0 
that it was already maintaining itself with difficulty in its last unmolested 
retreat. The winter there was severe, and at that season the sea-cow 
became so thin that every bone was clearly visible. It appears by nature 
to have been intended for some less rigorous climate, but from all such 
places it had already been driven by man and other predaceous animals. 
Thus it proved easy to extinguish the survivors of this interesting and 
ancient but nearly effete race, and without any intention or know- 
ledge of what they were about, this extinction was accomplished by the 
ignorant Russian traders. 
I n I 755> Jakovlev, a mining engineer who was sent to report on 
the occurrence of copper on Copper Island, noted that the sea-cow 
had already disappeared from that island, and according to the best 
information, the last of the race was killed on Behring Island, (which 
from the first knowledge had been its chief haunt) about the year 
1768. Nordenskjold who visited Behring island in 1879, thought 
he had ascertained from enquiry among the Aleut people there 
that a single specimen of the sea-cow was seen on the coast as lately as 
1854,* but Stejnejer, who visited the island more recently and who 
re-examined the same men with whom Nordenskjold had spoken, has 
shown that this was probably a mistake, t 
Thus it happens, that at the present day Steller's sea-cow, instead 
of browsing still upon the kelp along the shores of Behring Island, is 
known to science only by its bones. When Nordenskjold visited the 
island he made a special search for remains of the sea-cow and found 
that the bones were occasionally discovered by the natives along the 
shores, generally in a low sandy tract slightly above the present high- 
water mark. By prodding in this sandy ground with iron instruments 
the presence of the buried bones might be detected, and in this way he 
secured enough to make up a nearly complete skeleton. Since that 
time other skeletons have been collected and a certain number of 
detached skulls, and there can be no doubt that more will be found 
from time to time. 
age of the Vega. English Ed. Vol. II. pp. - 
I Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. Vol. VII. (1884) p. r8i. American Naturalist Vol, XXI. p. 1047. 
Am. Geographical Su. . Bulletin, No. 4. 1886. 
