248 EXTINCT MONSTERS. 



description is preserved in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences 

 St. Petersburg. He saw it alive during his long enforced residence 

 on the island. In the course of forty years, 1742-1782, it 

 appears to have been exterminated, probably for the sake of its 

 flesh and hide, around both Behring's Island and Copper Island, 

 to the shores of which it was, in Steller's time, limited. 



Fig. 58 shows its skeleton, 19 ft. 6 in. long, now preserved in 

 the Geological Collection at South Kensington (Glass-case N). 

 The skeletons are found, in the islands, at a distance from the 

 shore in old raised beaches and peat-mosses, deeply buried and 

 thickly overgrown with grass. They are discovered by boring 

 into the peat with an iron rod, just as timber is found in Irish 

 peat-bogs. (See restoration, Plate XXVI.) 



Steller records that when he came to Behring's Island, the Sea- 

 cows fed in the shallows along the shore, and collected in herds 

 like cattle. Every few minutes they raised their heads in order 

 to get more air before descending again to browse on the thick 

 sea-weed (probably Laminaria) surrounding the coast. With 

 regard to their habits, they were very slow in their movements : 

 mild and inoffensive in disposition. Their colour was dark 

 brown, sometimes varied with spots. The skin was naked ; but 

 thick, hard, and rugged. They are said to have sometimes 

 reached a length of thirty-five feet, when full grown. Most of 

 their time was spent in browsing, and whilst so occupied, were 

 not easily disturbed. Their attachment to each other was great, 

 so that when one was harpooned, the others made great attempts 

 to rescue it. According to Steller, they were so heavy that it 

 required forty men with ropes to drag the body of one to land. 



When, in 1743, the news of the discovery of Behring Island 

 reached Kamtchatka, several expeditions were fitted out for the 

 purpose of hunting the sea-cow and the various fur-bearing 

 animals, such as the sea-otter, fur seal, and blue fox, which are 

 found there ; and very soon many whaling vessels began to stop 

 there to lay in a supply of sea-cow meat for food. So great was 





