596 



ZOOLOGY. 



Steller's manatee (Rhytina Stelleri) was in the last century 

 found in abundance on the shores of Behring's Island on the 

 coast of Kamtchatka ; twenty-seven years afterwards (in 

 1768) it was totally exterminated by the sailors ; a few im- 

 perfect skeletons exist in the National museum. This is the 



largest Sirenian known ; it was over six metres in length. 

 It differed remarkably from the other forms, in having no 

 teeth, but was provided with a very large, horny, palatine 

 plate, and a corresponding one covering the enlarged point 

 of union, or symphysis, of the lower jaws. In the Tertiary 



