CETACEA. 



CETACEA. 



910 



5. D. Abusalam inhabits the Red Sea. 



6. D. Eutropia inhabits the Pacific Ocean Chili. 



7. D. Eurynome inhabits the North Sea. 



' Beak of skull rather thick, conical, evenly tapering. 



8. D. Metis, the Metis. Locality unknown. 



9. D. Cymodoce, the Cymodoce. Locality not known. 

 *** Beak of skull slender, cylindrical 



10. D. Doris. The Doris. Inhabits ? 



11. D.frenatui, the Bridled Dolphin, inhabits Cape de Verds. 



B. Head longly beaked. Nose of skull slender, light, rather de- 

 pressed, especially in front, much longer than the head. Teeth _ . 



* Skull flattened behind ; triangle to the teeth line. Palate flat, 

 not grooved on the side. 



12. D. Clymene. Locality unknown. 



13. D. Styx, the Styx, inhabits West Africa. 



14. D. Eupkroxyne, the Euphrosyne, inhabits the North Sea. 



15. D. Alope, the Alope. Locality unknown. 



'* Skull roundish ; triangle just to the teeth line. Palate with a 

 deep groove on each aide, and a high central ridge behind. 



t Beak moderate, li the length of the brain cavity. Teeth 



4 lorL 

 45 50 



16. D. Delphis, the Dolphin, inhabits the North Sea, Atlantic 

 Ocean. Has -been taken on the English coast. 



17. I>. Janira, the Janira, inhabits Newfoundland. 



18. D. None Zealandue, the New Zealand Dolphin, inhabits New 

 Zealand and Cape Gable. 



19. D. Foriteri,. Forster's Dolphin, inhabits the Pacific Ocean 

 between New Caledonia and Norfolk Island. 



20. D. Sao inhabits Madagascar. 



tt Beak of skull twice as long as the brain cavity. Teeth 55 ~ 60 . 



55 BO 



21. D, lonyirostra, the Cape Dolphin, inhabits the Southern Ocean. 

 Cape of Good Hope. 



'* Skull round ; triangle not reaching to the teeth line. Palate 

 convex, with a very concave line on the hinder part of each side. 



Beak twice as long as the head. Teeth _. 



50 



22. D. micropi, the Small-Headed Dolphin, inhabits the coasts of 

 Brazil 



Steno Malayan. It is the Delphin a Ventre Roux of the Paris 

 Museum, Delphinus plumkeiai of Cuvier. It is a native of the Indian 

 Ocean. 



S. frvntatui. It inhabits the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. 



& compreerui. Described by Gray in the Zoology of the Erebus 

 and Terror. 



li. attemuitut. Found at Cape Horn. 



S. fuams. Described by Gray in the Zoology of the Erebus and 

 Terror. A foetus was brought from Cuba by Mr. M'Leay. 



S. roftratut. It inhabits the North Sea, and has been taken at 

 Holland and at Brest. 



Pontuporia Dlainrillii. It has been found off Monte Video. A 

 skull is in the museum at Paris. It is described by Freminville as 

 Ddphinus Slainvillii. 



Inia, Geoffroyii. A native of Upper Peru or Bolivia River Moxos. 

 " The specimen," eays Gray, " in the Paris Museum, which Desmarest 

 described as Delphinua tieffroyii, is evidently this species." 



Plataniita Gangetica. It is the Sou Sou of India, the Susu of 

 liiiflou, the Plataniita of Pliny, Dauphine du Gange of Cuvier, 

 i'ini* ^limi-i-iuiii of Blainville. 



The family MANATID.E includes a number of animals, which, 

 although usually referred to Cetacea, have relations which have 

 induced some zoologists to propose that they should be placed 

 .rat other orders of Mammalia. They differ from the animals 

 we have already considered in being entirely vegetable feeders, and 

 are comprised in the division of Phytophagous Cetaceans of the two 

 Cuviers. 



It is not indeed surprising that they should so long have been con- 

 founded with the Cetaceans ; for their general appearance and hori- 

 zontal tail, joined to the difficulty of associating them either with the 

 Seals or the Walruses.notwithstandingtheiraquatichabits, led naturally 

 to their being placed in the same order with the true Zoophagous 

 Whales. But with external form almost all resemblance ceases ; and 

 when these Phytophagous Mammals are, as they ought to be, referred 

 to a separate group, there will not be, so far as discovery has hitherto 

 gone, any such animal as a Phytophagous Whale. 



" The short and thick neck, fin-like fore legs, wrint nf bind legs 

 caudal tegumentary fin, smooth, naked, and almost hairless integu- 

 iM'-nt. are all modifications of external form by which the Dugongs 

 ami Manatees are adapted to play their part in the water: but the kind 

 f |"irt," says Professor Owen, " which they are to play in that ele- 

 ment depends on organic characters which mainly, if not exclusively 

 reveal their true affinities. Now we have seen that the whole of the 

 internal structure in thu Herbivorous Cetacea differs as widely from 



that of the Carnivorous Cetacea as do their habits : that the amount 

 of variation is as great as well could be in animals of the same class 

 existing in the same great deep. The junction of the Dugongs and 

 Manatees with the true Whales cannot therefore be admitted in a 

 distribution of animals according to their organisation. With much 

 superficial resemblance they have little real or organic resemblance 

 to the Walrus, which exhibits an extreme modification of the amphi- 

 bious carnivorous type. I conclude therefore that the Dugong and 

 its congeners must either form a group apart, or be joined, as in the 

 classification of M. de Blainville, with the Pachyderms, with which 

 the Herbivorous Cetacea have the nearest affinities, and to which they 

 seem to have been more immediately linked by the -now lost genus 

 2>inotha-ium." 



The following is a synopsis of the genera : 



1. Manatua. Tail rounded. Grinders, - or _, tubercular. 



9 6 



' o 



2. Holicore. Tail forked. Grinders, - ; flat-tipped ; upper cutting- 



3 

 teeth produced, tusk-like. 



JRytina. Tail forked. Grinders none. 



Manat'M atutralix, the Manatee. This is the Lamantin of Buffon ; 

 Trichechna Manatui of Linnaeus ; Manatm Americanns of Desmarest ; 

 Manate del'Orenoque of Humboldt ; Lamantin d'Amdrique of Cuvier. 

 The terms Manatee and Lamantiu are indifferently applied to this and 

 the following species. The present species is of a gray-black colour, 

 and is an inhabitant of the warmer parts of America and its islands. 



Cuvier describes the Manatees as having an oblong body terminated 

 by an elongated .oval fin ; eight molar teeth in each jaw, with a square 

 crown marked by two transverse ridges ; 

 neither incisors nor canines in the adult ; 

 but in the very young ones two small 

 pointed teeth are found in the intermaxil- 

 lary bones, which disappear early. The 

 vestiges of nails are observable on ihe 

 edges of their flippers, which they use 

 dexterously enough in creeping and carry- 

 ing then- young. This has caused these 

 organs to be compared to hands ; whence 

 their name Mauaji, or Manatee. 



The mammas of the Manatees and 

 Dugongs are pectoral, and this conforma- 

 tion, joined to the adroit use of their 

 flippers (whose five fingers can be easily 

 distinguished through the investing mem- 

 branes, four of them being terminated by 

 nails) in progression, nursing their young, 

 &c., have caused them, when seen at a 

 distance with the anterior part of their 

 body out of the water, to be taken for 

 some creature approaching to human 

 shape so nearly (especially as their muzzle 

 is thick set with hairs, giving somewhat of 

 the effect of human hair or a beard), that 

 there can be little doubt that not a few 

 of the tales of Mermen and Jiermaids 

 have had their origin with these animals, 

 as well as with Seals and Walruses. Thus 

 the Portuguese and Spaniards give the 

 Manatee a denomination which signifies 



Woman-Fish ; and the Dutch call the Dugong Baardmaunetje, or 

 Little Bearded Man. A very little imagination and a memory for 

 only the marvellous portion of the appearance sufficed doubtless to 

 complete the metamorphosis of this half woman or man, half-fish, into 

 a Siren, a Mermaid, or a Merman; and the wild recitnlof the voyager 

 was treasured up by such writers as Maillet, Lachesnaye-des-Bois, 

 Sachs, Valentyn, and others, who, as Cuvier well observes, have 

 displayed more learning than judgment. 



This and the other species of Manatees are called by English 

 sailors the Sea-Cow and the Woman-Fish, and by the French Bocuf 

 Marin and Vache Marine. 



The Manatees are gregarious, and generally go in troops. The young 

 are usually placed in the centre of the herd for protection, and on the 

 approach of danger all unite for the common safety. It is alleged 

 that, when one has been struck by a harpoon, its companions will tear 

 out the weapon ; and they are so attached to their young that if the 

 calf be taken, the captors are sure of the mother, from the reckless- 

 ness with which her maternal affection leads her to the place of capture. 

 If the mother be captured, the young follow her to the shore, and fall 

 an easy prey. 



The shallow bays of the Antilles and the quiet creeks of the South 

 American rivers, particularly in Guyana and the Brazils, are the 

 favourite haunts of the Manatee. They were formerly abundant at 

 the mouths of the Orinoco and Amazon, ascending many miles, even 

 into their tributaries and the fresh-water lakes. There, their actions 

 are recorded as being similar in some respects to the whales, 

 such as ' breaching,' or leaping to a considerable height out of the 

 water. The food is entirely vegetable, consisting of subaqueous 

 plants and littoral herbs principally. 



Teeth of Manatee (Manatus 



