Lepidosirens. 151 



the West Coast. Little was known of these 

 animals until the year 1837, in which year this 

 species was described by Professor Owen under 

 the name Protopterus ; while in the same year Dr. 

 Natterer published an account of the allied 

 American species under the name Lepidosiren 

 parodoxa ; after which Professor Owen, considering 

 that both species must be referred to the same genus, 

 adopted Dr. Natterer's generic name, and called the 

 African species Lepidosiren annectens, the name 

 still in general use and adopted by the Zoological 

 Society. Authorities, however, are not agreed, as 

 Dr. Giinther, as we find by reference to the 

 collection of fishes in the British Museum, is of 

 opinion that the African form should more 

 correctly be described as Protopterus annectens, 

 and that it is generically distinct from the 

 American Lepidosiren. 



From the point of view of ordinary visitors to 

 the Zoo the change from the manatee, or 

 " mermaid," as many of them, preferred to call it, 

 to the Lepidosiren, is eminently uninteresting, and 

 many are the expressions of disappointment called 

 forth by the sight of what is apparently considered 

 to be some species of eel in the place of the 

 expected "mermaid." Yet though so generally 

 treated with contempt, and passed by with a mere 

 glance, Lepidosiren is a creature of more than 

 ordinary interest. In appearance it certainly bears 

 some faint resemblance to an eel, or better still, to 

 an eel-pout, in that its body is somewhat eel- 



