68 Zoological Society : — 



through tlieir habitations, looking around me, but finding nothing 

 but heaps of nuts of the oil-palm. But just before embarking, my 

 eye caught a heap of dry bones, placed evidently by the negroes as 

 their dju-dju, or sacred heap, remains of their hunting achievements, 

 and now dedicated to their deity. I eagerly examined the mass, 

 but found to my grief that it was composed mostly of fragments, 

 among which were portions of skulls of goats, of a bullock, and of a 

 crocodile ; but on turning these over I saw a more complete relic, 

 one which struck me as being peculiar, and as something I had not 

 previously seen. This I carried off, and it turned out to be the 

 nearly complete skull of a Manatiis, which was the skull exhibited 

 at Cheltenham. Having had time lately to examine it, I found it 

 to exhibit the peculiarities remarked by Prof. Owen, and the result 

 is as follows : — 



General Measurements. 



inches. 



Extreme length \2\ 



Greatest depth 8 



Length of nasal orifice A\ 



Breadth of nasal orifice 2 



From edge of orbit to extremity of snout 3|- 



From anterior molar socket to extremity of snout .... 3f 

 From anterior edge of infraorbital foramen to ditto .... 3^ 

 From maxillary and intermaxillary suture to ditto .... If 

 Greatest depth of zygomatic arch 2^ 



The proportions of the skull are more elongate than those of M. 

 Senegalensis, but less so than those of Jl/. australis. Top of skull ob- 

 long, boimded by two almost completely parallel ridges on the frontal 

 and ]iarietal bones. Frontal suture remaining, parietal bones united. 

 Breadth of orbits nearly one-half of their length ; orbits directed 

 outwards, nearly in a ])lane with the snout at an angle of about 40° ; 

 lower edge of orbits circular, smooth, and not tuberculated. Inter- 

 maxillaries more lengthened than in Cuvier's figure of il/. Senegalen- 

 sis, but much less deep, and not nearly so elevated along the anterior 

 angle of the nasal cavit}*. Cavities for nine upper molars, the anterior 

 being but a single socket, the others adapted for three dental fangs, 

 one internal, and two external and lateral. Fangs flattened and 

 shghtly expanded at extremity ; the two external directed immediately 

 upwards ; the internal one, rather the longest, directed upwards and 

 inwards, especially the more anterior ones. Two posterior molars 

 still undeveloped. Molars multicuspid, with two transverse irregu- 

 larly tri-tubercular ridges, the posterior .one being generally partially 

 divided into two by a small groove. The ridges on the remaining 

 anterior molars (third and fourth) much rubbed down and worn, ex- 

 posing the dentine. Remains of one incisive socket at extremity of 

 each intermaxillarj^ near the suture. Incisive foramen pyriform, 

 the base anteriorly. 



Lower jaw less massive than in M. Senegalensis, with posterior 



