624 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



tiua offers, or rather offered, the spectacle of a creature whose rela- 

 tions are confined to the tropics residing in a subarctic region. In 

 point of size the rytina far exceeded its relatives, attaining a length 

 of from 24 to 30 feet and an aldermanic circumference of 19 or 20, 

 weighing according to Steller's estimates 8,000 pounds. The head 

 was very small in proportion to the body, the jaws toothless, being 

 provided in lieu of teeth with a thick, horny pad, very similar to 

 that covering the anterior portion of the lower jaw of the dugong. 

 Owing to the peculiar structure of the epidermis, an exaggeration of 

 the condition found in the manatee and elephant, the skin was so thick, 

 rough, and wrinkled that, being dark colored, its appearance was com- 

 pared by Steller to the bark of a tree. Although in places the epidermis 

 was an inch in thickness, and so extremely hard as to necessitate the 

 use of an axe in order to cut it, the dermis was only one-sixth of an inch 

 thick. The rytina was gregarious, and found in herds about the 

 mouths of streams, where it lived on seaweeds, especially on the large 

 abundant laminarias. It was stupid, sluggish and comparatively heip- 



Mai' 2. — Bering Island, from a map by Dr. L. Stejneger, showing the principal streams. A. Ary 

 Island near which Pallas's cormorant is last known to have been taken. B. Spot where Bering's party 

 wintered. 



less, being unable to protect itself by diving, and occasionally washed 

 ashore by the breakers. Inability to dive forced the rytina to seek its 

 food in shallow water, and since the storms and ice of winter often 

 rendered it a difficult matter to approach the shore at that season, 

 spring usually found the animal much reduced in flesh. 



