334 LIMBS OF SIRENIA CHAP. 
like or rhomboidal to circular in form. Nostrils on upper surface 
of not specially-elongated snout. Clavicles are absent. The 
scapula has the normal mammalan form, with a well-developed 
and roughly median spine. The bones of the arm and hand articu- 
late together, as in land animals; the phalanges show at most 
traces of increase in number above the normal. Pelvis represented 
by a vestige, more highly developed in some fossil than in recent 
forms. Stomach complex, consisting of several chambers. Lungs 
simple and not lobulated. Diaphragm oblique and very muscular. 
Brain peculiar in form and but slightly convoluted. Testes ab- 
dominal. Teats two, and pectoral in position. Placenta non- 
deciduous and zonary.! 
This limited group consists of purely aquatic forms, which are 
both marine and fresh-water in their proclivities. They have 
been placed in the immediate vicinity of the Whales; but it is 
now believed by most zoologists that the lkenesses which they 
undoubtedly show to the Cetacea are of an adaptive kind and 
related to their similar mode of life. The group is a readily- 
definable one. Externally they are marked by their dark 
coloration, somewhat Whale-like though of clumsier build, and by 
the total absence of external ears and hind-limbs; the latter are, 
however, as will be pointed out shortly, marked by certain rudi- 
mentary bones. There is a flattened tail, which in the Dugong and 
thytina is precisely like that of a Whale. It is interesting to 
note that the former genus, whose tail is, judging it at least by 
the standard of the Whales, more completely modified for the 
aquatic life, should also show other features which indicate their 
longer life as marine creatures. For the flippers are more Whale- 
like in that the fore-arm is completely enclosed within the body, 
or nearly so, and the nostrils have a more decidedly superior 
position than in the Manatee. The fore-limbs of this group, as 
may be inferred from what has just been said, are flipper-like ; 
but, contrary to what we find in Whales, the phalanges do not as 
a rule show any traces of multiplication, so characteristic a feature 
of the Cetacean hand, and the individual bones are connected by 
well-formed joints.. Beneath the thick skin, which is sparsely 
provided with stout hairs in the Dugong, is a layer of blubber. 
Dr. Murie has called attention to the fact that this layer in the 
1 In Halicore ; probably also in Manatus. See Turner, Z’rans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. 
xxxv. 1889, p. 641. 
