CETACEA. 28? 



Genus HALICORE or DUGONGDS, with teeth re- 

 sembling two cones united, and incisors that grow 

 out somewhat like the defences of morses ; they have 

 no nails on the flippers, and their tail is shaped like 

 the flukes of whales. Of the several species still 

 extant, it may be surmised, that some existed for- 

 merly in the Mediterranean, and gave occasion for 

 the narratives of the ancients, which record the tame- 

 ness and placability of their DelphinL 



The third genus, MANATUS, makes some slight 

 approaches more towards the great Pachydermata 

 that frequent the water. The flippers have four flat 

 nails on their edges, and the tail is in the form of a 

 spatula. 



One of the species, Manatus Americanus, is re- 

 ported to heave itself up, and bring nearly its whole 

 length out of the water in the rivers of Guiana ; and 

 the marks of their presence among the luxuriant 

 herbage, overhanging the borders, near deep holes, 

 at the confluence of two streams, have been poinie-l 

 out to us, by negro boatmen, who did not fail to 

 throw plantain peels, &c., overboard, in the manner 

 recorded by Stedman. 



