an order by themselves. Dr. Murie then spoke at length 

 of the sirens who of old were supposed to assume the shape 

 of beautiful woracn, and by their beautiful singing enticed 

 the unwary sailor to destruction, and pointed out that seem- 

 ingly aU the foundation there existed for this was that 

 many of the animals in the order sirenia bellowed in so 

 peculiar a way, and sat upright in the water when nursing 

 their young, that it was by no means difficult in the dusk 

 or distance to imagine thai it was a human form in the 

 water — imagination easily filling in the rest of the story. 

 [The anatomical structure and other peculiarities of the 

 dugong were* then explained at length, and illustrated by 

 lifesizedplates.] They were also possessed of such peculiarities 

 as the following : An external rough skin, very tough and 

 something like a gnarled oak, the nostrils, open in front, 

 the mouth distinct and small, whereas in the dolphin the 

 mouth was extremely large. These animals were found in 

 Australia and the Indian seas, and from all that waa 

 known of them, there was every reason to believe that they 

 were members of a distinct order and entitled to take rank 

 by themselves. The second member of the order was the 

 rytina, which was not now known to exist. A hundred 

 years ago it lived only in Beering's Straits, and was made 

 food of by the Russian arctic expeditions of 1731 and fol- 

 lowing years — it being found to be an excellent substitute 

 for the salt beef usually carried by their ships. The rytina 

 was the largest of all this group, some specimens being 

 found twenty-six feet long, but now it might be said to be 

 extinct. The third branch of the order was the manatus 

 or manatee, which possessed many of the attributes of the 

 dugong. Its tail was flat like that of a beaver, and instead 

 of being a mermaid, to which family it undoubtedly be- 

 longed, you would imagine it to be a badly made bottle, 

 with a couple of handles. [The illustrations of the animals 

 in various positions were here shown and fully explained by 

 Dr. Murie.] There were some peculiarities which distin- 

 guished this animal from all others of a similar kind. In- 

 stead of having seven cervical vertebra) it had only sis. In 

 the order of biieuia, ton, t.huro was a poruliarity in thestomacb 



