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MANATEES AND DUGONGS 



animals bearing a high value. The flesh of the dugong is described as being of ex- 

 cellent quality and flavor, by those who have tried it. The natives of Torres Straits, 

 according to the late Professor Moseley, are in the habit of using dugong skulls and 

 ribs for the decoration of their huts. 



THE NORTHERN SEA-COW 

 Genus Rhytina 



On his return in 1741 from a voyage of discovery to Alaska, the navigator 

 Behring had the misfortune to be shipwrecked on the island which now bears his 

 name; that island, together with the adjacent Copper island, 

 constituting the Commander group, which lie in Behring Sea, 

 at a distance of about one hundred miles from the coast of 

 Kamchatka. At the time of their involuntary sojourn, Behr- 

 ing and his companions found the shores of these islands in- 

 habited by a hitherto unknown animal, evidently allied to the 

 manatee, but of much greater dimensions. This creature was 

 the northern sea-cow (Rhytina stelleri), then found in vast 

 numbers on the islands in question, but which within a period 

 of thirty years from that date appears to have been totally 

 exterminated by the hand of man. Indeed, had it not been 

 for the fortunate circumstance that Behring was accompanied 

 by the naturalist Steller, we should probably never even have 

 heard of the very existence of this animal, except through 

 some slight mention in the accounts of certain contemporary 

 voyagers. Unfortunately, no skins and only some imperfect 

 skeletons of the animal appear to have been preserved 

 by the survivors of Behring' s party; but of late years, a con- 

 siderable number of more or less imperfect skeletons have been 

 reclaimed from the frozen soil of the Commander islands. 



This gigantic Sirenian differed from all its allies in having 

 no teeth, the functions of which were performed by the horny 

 plates covering the palate and opposing surface of the lower 

 jaw. The head was very small in proportion to the body, and 

 the extremities of the jaws were somewhat bent downward. 

 The tail was forked, after the manner of that of the dugong. 

 The flippers were very small and truncated, and were covered 

 with bristly hairs. Steller expressly states that there were no 

 bones in the hand, and it is certain that none have hitherto 

 been found. The skin was naked, and, covered with a thick, 

 rugged epidermis, which was compared to the bark of a tree; 

 in P la ces this epidermis was an inch in thickness, and so tough 

 that it re quired the use of an ax to cut it. The skin, accord- 

 ing to Steller 's description, was dark brown in color, some- 

 times marked with streaks or spots of white. A drawing of 



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