GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 9 



Walrus, and the Manatee, the two last named constituting his 

 " genus Odobenus." This was a marked retrocession from even 

 the system of Klein,* of a few years' earlier date, who brought 

 together as one family the Seals, Otters, Beaver, Walrus, and 

 Manatee. Linne, in 17G6,t not only removed the Walrus from 

 the genus Phoca, in which he had previously placed it, to Tri- 

 chechus, but also transferred it from his order Ferae to Bruta, 

 which thus contained not only the Walrus, but such a diverse 

 assemblage as Elephants, Sloths, and Anteaters. Linne's genus 

 Trichechus, as at this time constituted, was equivalent to Bris-* 

 son's genus " Odobenm? Erxleben,f who recognized no higher 

 groups than genera, placed the Walruses and Seals together im- 

 mediately after the Carnivores. Schreber, at about the same 

 date (1777), adopted a similar classification, the Walrus stand- 

 ing next after the Elephant and preceding the Seals. Schre- 

 ber's genus Trichechus contained also the Dugong and the 

 Manatee. Gmelin,|| in 1788, folio wed the LinnaBan arrangement 

 of 1766; the Walrus, as usual from the time of Brisson to 

 Gmelin, standing next to the Elephant, and associated generic- 

 ally with the Sirenians. Blumenbach,1] from 1788 till as late 

 even as 1825, still arranged the Walrus and the Sirenians in 

 the genus Triclieclius. In other respects, the Walrus appears 

 with new associates, the genus Trichechus being united with 

 Ornitliorliynclius to form a " family" (!) of his "order" Palmata. 

 The order Palmata, as the name implies, was composed of the 

 web-f opted mammals, and divided into three "families," namely, 

 "A. Glires" (consisting of the genus Castor)-, U B. Ferce" (Phoca 

 and jkwtra); and "C. Bruta" (Ornitliorliynclius and Trichechus). 

 This is essentially also the arrangement proposed by Klein in 

 1751. 



The first step toward Dismembering the unnatural conglo- 

 meration known previously under the names Trichechus and 

 Odobenus was made by Betzius** in 1794, who divided the 

 genus Trichechus of former authors into three genera, namely, 

 Manatus, for the Manatee; tfydromalis, for Steller's Sea-Cow 

 <= Bhytina Illiger, 1811); and Trichechus, the last embrac- 



* Quad: Disp. Brev. Hist. Nat., 1751, pp. 40, 92. 



t Syst. Nat., ed. 12, 1766, p. 49. 



JtfJyst. Reg. Anim., 1777, p. 593. 



$ Siitigetli., ii, [1776?], p. 260. 



|| Syst. Nnt.,i, 59. 



HHaiuVb. <1. Nuturgescli., 1788, p. 142, and later editions. 



**Kongl. Vetensk. Acad. iiya Handling., xv, 1794, pp. 286-300. 



