THE NORTHERN SEA-COW l6l 



rhytina calf ready for transport, but owing to the 

 cramped quarters alone available in the make- 

 shift boat they had to be left behind. A 

 drawing of the animal was, however, made by 

 Lieutenant Waxell, and a sketch given by Steller 

 to Pallas was published in the latter's " Icones ad 

 Zoographiam Rosso- Asiaticam " (Fasc. II.). Some 

 incomplete skeletons were preserved by Behring's 

 party, while a valuable account of the animal by 

 Steller was published in the Memoirs of the 

 Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg.^ At this 

 date (1741) the rhytina still abounded on the Com- 

 mander Group (Behring Island and Copper Island), 

 perhaps also occasionally reaching the coast of 

 Kamchatka : it is interestinp- to trace its oradual 

 decline and fall, brought about quite indii^ectly by 

 the agency of man. 



The disappearance of the sea-cow well illustrates 

 how an attack directed against one species of animal 

 may remotely, yet disastrously, affect another. The 

 swarming fur animals (blue foxes and sea-otters) of 

 the Commander Islands promised a rich reward for 

 any hunters hardy enough to face the discomforts of 

 this icy El Dorado. The pelts obtained by Behring's 

 party were sufficient guarantee of the monetary 

 value of an expedition, and accordingly we find that 

 hundreds of foxes were slaughtered by subsequent 



1 Steller's account of tlie rhytina is a masterpiece of science for accuracy 

 and value, especially when we remember tiiat he was at the time a 

 shipwrecked castaway, without library or appliances. 



