OCEANIC MAMMALS 529 



waters, it is not at all certain whether these represent distin- 

 guishable forms or what the characters are if they deserve 

 recognition. Dollman (1933) found on comparing skulls from 

 the East African coast with others of about the same age from 

 Australia that the former were "much less massive and 

 smaller" than the latter. In view of the present uncertainty 

 the supposed forms may be considered together. On account 

 of the palatability of the flesh this animal is much hunted 

 wherever found and hence is in danger of reduction. 



The dugong is in external form much like a cetacean, spindle- 

 shaped in body, with the tail ending in lateral flukes, which are 

 notched in the median line and pointed at the outer end. The 

 skin is of a blue-gray color, lighter below. The fore limbs are 

 flipperlike, but the hind limbs have disappeared in modern 

 forms; eyes are small, the ear-opening a minute pore. The 

 muzzle forms a flat disk, with a vertical cleft in the center, 

 and with short spines on its lower part, while a few short 

 bristles are present on the upper part. The nostrils open 

 separately at the summit of the snout. The skull is remarkable 

 for the downward bend of the rostrum, which in the male has a 

 pair of short tusks, the second pair of upper incisors. The 

 cheek teeth are six in number, but with age the smaller ones 

 drop out in front, and the posterior ones wear down, until 

 there may be but a single one left, the last in the series. Length, 

 up to 10 feet. 



Although the type locality of the dugong as given in Miiller's 

 original description is Cape of Good Hope to the Philippines, 

 the former region is probably to be taken only in a general 

 sense; at all events at the present day it is not apparently 

 found farther south on the East African coast than Delagoa 

 Bay, Mozambique (latitude 26 S.), where Barrett (1935) 

 mentions seeing several adults and a "calf" caught in fish 

 traps by the natives, in 1908-10. It is occasionally taken also 

 in fish nets on the coasts of Madagascar and the neighboring 

 small islands, and on the Tanganyika coast. According to 

 Kaudern (1915) it was more often hunted formerly in Mada- 

 gascar than now, though occasionally seen offered in the 

 markets at Analalava; Petit shows that 20 years ago it was 

 fairly common, but now is much more restricted among these 

 islands. On the coast near Lamu, Kenya Colony, Arthur 

 Loveridge (in G. M. Allen and B. Lawrence, 1936, p. 125) says 



