FAMILY MANATIDJE; DUGONG, MANATEE. 339 



land and of the meteoric influences governing the proportion and 

 distribution of fresh water on that surface, may therefore be con- 

 jectured to have prevailed, when huge Mastodontoid Pachyderms 

 constituted part of the quadruped population of Australia ; and 

 a change from a humid climate to the present particularly dry 

 one, may have been the cause, or chief cause, of the extinction 

 of the race." 



305. The family MANATIDJB or Dugong tribe, has been 

 usually associated, as already stated more than once, with the 

 order Cetacea ; but the animals composing it differ almost as 

 much from the true Whales, as a herbivorous from a carnivorous 

 Quadruped. In their fishlike form, the absence of hinder limbs 

 and pelvis, the conversion of the anterior extremities into paddles, 

 the prolonged and horizontally-flattened tail, the nakedness 

 and oiliness of the skin, and other points of adaptation to the 

 life and habits of a Fish, the two groups agree (Fig. 59) ; and 

 it is interesting to observe, how completely the same objects are 

 attained by similar means, in both cases. But the food of the 

 Dugong and its allies entirely differs from that of the Whales ; 

 and all the parts of the structure, immediately concerned in the 

 reception and application of it, vary in a corresponding manner. 

 The molar teeth are formed upon the same plan with those of 

 the aquatic Pachyderms, and are obviously adapted to reduce 

 the submarine vegetables, which are hooked up by means of 

 the tusk-like incisors. The curious provision which the true 

 Whales possess, for causing a large quantity of water to pass 

 through their mouths, that they may strain out, as it were, the 

 small animals it contains ( 209), is here altogether wanting. 

 And the stomach, instead of being simple in structure, and of 

 moderate size, is large and divided into sacs. Only a few species 

 of this family are known. The Dugong, or Halicore, is a native 

 of the Indian Seas, being common among the islands of the Indian 

 Archipelago, and visiting also the coasts of New Holland. It 

 especially frequents the mouths of rivers and shallow waters; and 

 it is pursued on account of its flesh, which is tender and not unlike 

 beef. Its length is about seven or eight feet. Another species 

 inhabits the Red Sea. The Manatee, or Lamantin, inhabits the 



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