44 THE LAMANTIN. 



ceroing the animal treated of, and it not unfrequent- 

 ly happens that the mere mention of the name of a 

 species, is all that occurs in a book quoted with all 

 the formality of title and page. Bartram, for in- 

 stance, who travelled in the country where the 

 lamantin is most commonly found, gives the whole 

 amount of his observation in nine unsatisfying lines. 

 Other observers, who have enjoyed equally good 

 opportunities, have contented themselves with a 

 mention of the animal, taking it for granted that no 

 other information was desirable. 



Of this species we know little or nothing, but 

 what is given by Cuvier in the scientific works 

 above quoted, and from the observations made by 

 Du Tertre in his history of the Antilles. 



The general figure of the lamantin is rather el- 

 liptical and elongated. Its head is shaped like a 

 simple truncated cone, and terminates in a thick 

 and fleshy snout, semi-circular at its extremity, and 

 pierced at its upper part, by two small semilunar nos- 

 trils, directed forwards. The edge of the upper 

 lip is tumid, furrowed in the middle, and provided 

 with thick and stiff whiskers. The lower lip is 

 narrower and shorter than the upper, and the open- 

 ing of the mouth is small. The eyes are situated 

 towards the upper part of the head, at the same dis- 

 tance from the snout, as the angle of the lips. The 

 ears are very small, scarcely perceptible, and plac- 

 ed at the same distance from the eyes, that the lat- 

 ter are from the snout 



