NOTES ON THE MANATEE OR-:SEA-COW. 
By CHARLES H. TOWNSEND, 
DIRECTOR OF THE AQUARIUM. 
HE manatee which was received on September 3, 1903, lived 
exactly five months, and was of constant interest to visit- 
ors. It was captured in the Sebastian River, a tributary of the 
Indian River, Florida, about three miles from its mouth. The ani- 
mal was taken by means of a specially constructed net set across 
the stream, and about eight days were consumed in the hunt be- 
fore it was captured. Manatees, when caught in Florida, usually 
strike about midway on the nets set for them, and are taken when 
going down stream. The net is set slack, and the shore ends of 
the line being cast off promptly, the animal is readily enmeshed 
and dragged ashore. The net employed in this instance was 150 
yards long and 30 feet wide; the material being quarter-inch soft 
manila with 14-inch mesh. 
The manatee is found throughout the Indian River and the 
lagoons of the eastern coast of Florida. The northern limit of its 
range is supposed to be the Halifax River at Ormond. It is found 
in the everglades, and is not uncommon about Lake Worth. 
Through the efforts of the Hon. F. S. Morse, of Miami, the man- 
atee has been protected for some years in Florida and is now said 
to be holding its own. The species had been reported for some 
years as being on the decrease. 
This species (Manatus latirostris) is supposed to be limited to 
Florida, although the species found in Cuba and Porto Rico, San 
Domingo, and other parts of the West Indies and the coast of 
Central America and Mexico, may be the same. 
Other species are Manatus australis, of the northern coast of 
South America; Manatus inunguts, of the Orinoco and Amazon 
rivers, ascending the latter river to the borders of Peru. 
Manatus kollikeri has been described from Surinam, and, on the 
other side of the Atlantic Manatus senegalensis is found on the 
west coast of Africa. Other sirenians, which should be mentioned 
