MERMEN AND MERMAIDS. 293 



solitary habits, has given rise to these legends. 

 And, once more, we have little doubt that the 

 young, especially, of certain species of Whales, from 

 their striking fashion of raising their heads perpen- 

 dicularly above the wave, and so taking a deliberate 

 survey of surrounding objects, may occasionally 

 have led to the same result. Thus, then, in the or- 

 dinary cete, and in the Walrus and Seals, as well 

 as in our herbivorous cete, are we to recognize the 

 original types of nearly all these wondrous tales. 



The small group, forming the herbivorous cete, is 

 now divided into three genera, and about twice as 

 many species: it consists of the Manatee of the West 

 Indies, the Dugong of Eastern Seas, and the Stel- 

 leruSj an inhabitant of the polar regions. As to 

 their general character, we may note that their head 

 is scarcely distinguished from the body by any 

 neck ; they have no blow-holes on the summit of 

 the head, but nostrils on their snout ; the shape of 

 their body is pisciform ; they have no dorsal fin ; 

 their tail is horizontal like that of the other cete, 

 and they have not even the rudiments of the pos- 

 terior extremity; their pectorals are quite swim- 

 ming paws ; their mammae are pectoral ; their skin 

 is nearly destitute of hair, and their teeth are not 

 those of carnivorous but of herbivorous animals. 



We now proceed to the genera and species. 



