THE MANATEE. 133 



seen feeding below the surface, and every now and then 

 rising to take breath. The position of the mouth, the 

 muscular powers and mobility of the lips garnished with 

 wiry bristles, and the short incisor tusks of the upper 

 jaw, enable these anin^als to seize and drag up the long 

 fronds of the subaquatic vegetables which constitute their 

 nourishment. 



The dugong (more properly duyong) is in high esteem 

 as an article of food, its flesh being tender and not unlike 

 beef; hence it is hunted assiduously by the Malays, 

 who attack the animal with harpoons, in the manage- 

 ment of which they are very dexterous. 



The mutual affection of the male and female is very 

 great, and the latter is devoted to her offspring. If a 

 dugong be killed, the survivor of the pair, careless of 

 danger, follows after the boat, carrying the body, im- 

 pelled by an overmastering passion, and thus often shares 

 the fate of its partner ; indeed, if one be taken, the other 

 is an easy prize. 



The dugong attains to the length of seven or eight 

 feet ; its caudal paddle is crescent shaped ; the large 

 thick upper lip hangs over the lower ; the skin of the 

 body is thinly set, with very short prickly bristles ; the 

 anterior limbs, or flippers, are destitute of nails. The 

 ventricles of the heart are not united together, but form 

 as it were two distinct hearts joined at the top : this se- 

 paration of the ventricles does not alter the routine of 

 the circulation. The eyes are very small. 



An allied species {Halicore Tabernaculi) has been 

 discovered by MM. Ehrenberg and Riippel in the Red 

 Sea. 



The Manatee, or Lamantin 



(Manatus Americanus ; Trichecus Manatus, Linn.), 



The American manatee inhabits the embouchure of 

 the Amazon, Orinoko, and other rivers of South America, 

 and feeds upon subaquatic herbage. Its flippers exhibit 

 rudiments of nails, and by their aid it sometimes drags 

 its unwieldly body on shore, and crawls up the banks, 



g3 



