104 ANIMAL SKETCHES. CHAP. 



the monster sperm whale or cachalot, which have a most 

 formidable array of conical teeth. 



In the manatees there are a number of ridged grinding 

 teeth, by means of which they munch the lettuces and 

 beet-root at the Zoo, or the aquatic plants in their native 

 haunts. And the curious point about these teeth is, that 

 they are not all in position and in use at the same time. 

 As the years go by those in front get past work and drop 

 out making room for fresh ones coming into position, from 

 behind. I have already spoken of the similar mode of 

 succession of teeth in the elephant. It is quite different 

 from the succession in us and in most animals, where the 

 child-teeth are replaced by others coming up from below. 



And then, in front of the mouth, beneath those great 

 swollen lips there is, instead of a row of teeth, a roughened 

 horny plate ; and in the lower jaw a second plate answer- 

 ing to the one above. With these it crops the submarine 

 herbage which forms its food. But when quite young the 

 manatee has two rudimentary front teeth in each jaw, 

 which become covered in by the overgrowth of the horny 

 plates, and here the manatee resembles that very curious 

 animal the Duck Bill of Tasmania. They are probably at 

 no time of any use to the possessor. It is another case of 

 the apparently meaningless buttons on the tail coat. 



As you watch the mermaid feed the mermaid of poesy 

 was probably too ethereal a spirit to require to eat at all, 

 much less to enjoy so prosaic a diet as lettuce-salad you will 

 see that she uses her fore-limbs to draw the leaves towards 

 her or to tear them asunder. And then you will observe 

 how she uses those bristly lip pads. They have a strange 

 mobility, these cushion lips. The cushions, one on either 

 side, can be drawn apart so as to form a broad notch be- 

 tween them ; the muzzle is then stretched out towards a 

 lettuce, which is thus seized between the two bristly 



