202 MAMMALS. 



if correct, the animal to which they belonged, must have been of colossal size, the vertical diameter 

 of the atlas vertebra having been nine inches, and the transverse diameter eleven inches. 



The two living American species inhabit respectively the north and south angles of the Gulf of 

 Mexico. The Northern species, M. latirostris Harlan, strange to saj', is more nearly allied to the 

 African species M. Senegalexsis, than to its nearer neighbour, the South American M. australis. 

 It is found about the mouths of rivers, near the capes of East Florida, in 25° N. Lat. Harlan 

 says* that when he wrote (1825) they were found in considerable numbers, so nnich so that one 

 Indian was able to cajjture ten or twelve with the harpoon in one season. Like the African 

 species it measures from eight to ten feet in length. It resembles it as well as all the other species in 

 the excellence of its flesh as food, which is thought to resemble veal. CajDt. Henderson, in his 

 account of the British settlement of Honduras, speaks thus enthusiastically of the tail as a tit-bit : 

 " The tail, which forms the most valuable part of the Manatee, after laying some days in a pickle 

 prcjiarcd for it, with spices, &c., and eaten cold, is a discovery of which Apicius might have been 

 proud, and which the discriminating palate of Elagabalus would have thought justly entitled to 

 the most distinguished reward. "f 



It may be a question of which species Henderson here speaks, Honduras being about the 

 debateable gromid where the Northern species may be expected to terminate, and the Southern 

 to commence. The latter species, M. australis, extends along the shore, down the coast of Brazil, 

 and ascends the rivers Oronoko and Amazon for g-reat distances. It is a little larger than 

 the other species, being about nine or ten feet in length. 



One of the species of Manatee has occurred more tlian once on the shores of Britain. Fleming 

 records it as having been found at Shetland, in 1823, and refers the species to Senegalensis. 

 Baikio also records that species as having been met with in Orkney. I think it more probable that 

 they were examples of the American species M. latirostris, which had probably come with the Gidf 

 Stream. They do not apjiear to have undergone any discriminative examination ; and, indeed, none 

 could have been made, for the materials for comparison were awanting. So far from a specimen of 

 M. Senegalensis being accessible in Shetland or Orkney, I do not believe that at that time there was 

 one in all Britain. 



DuGONG. — Hernandez mentions a species of Manatee as being found along the coast of 

 Peru. This without doubt must have been the Dugong or Halicoro (Halicore Indica), by which 

 the Manatee is replaced in the Pacific Ocean. The commonest species, Halicore cetacea, ranges 

 from about the mouth of the Zambesi, northwards all along the East African coast into the Red 

 Sea, thence along the Persian shore to the East Indies ; round which, and Ceylon, it passes onwards 

 into the Bay of Bengal, descends the Burmese Coast and the Malayan Peninsida into the Indian 

 Archipelago, throughout the greater part of which it is found. It does not appear to be known 

 north of tlie Indian Archipelago, or on the coasts of China or Japan. Riippel thought that the 

 individuals found in the Red Sea were distinct from the Indian Dugong, and proposed the name 

 of Halicore tabernaculi, for the species found there va. case it should prove distinct.^ 



The separation of the islands of the Indian Ai'chipelago and New Guinea into a Malayan 

 region and an Australian region, is bonic out even by this marine genus, for at the Straits of 



* Harlan, "Fauna Americana," 1825, p. 277. * t Roppel, " Bcschreibung des imrothen meere vorkom- 



t Mbnderson's " Account of Honduras," 1809, p. lOB. menden Dugong (Halicore)." 4to, 1833, p. 113. 



