CHAPTER XII 

 ORDER OF SEA-COWS 



SIRENIA 



TN certain warm and deep rivers of the tropics and sub- 

 ■*- tropics, where water plants grow abundantly and all 

 nature seems at peace, there live certain species of water 

 mammals of strange form and habits. The manatees and 

 dugongs differ so widely from even their nearest relatives in 

 other Orders that it is not an easy matter to introduce them. 



The body of a Siren ian is like that of a long-bodied seal. 

 The neck is very large, but extends straight forward, and ter- 

 minates in a small, blunt-ended head with very small eyes 

 and lips so extensible and mobile in the manipulation of food 

 that the artist who tries to draw their moods and tenses soon 

 finds himself quite bewildered. There are no incisor or canine 

 teeth, and the serrated molars are intended only for the 

 bruising and cutting of tender plants. 



There are front flippers of good dimensions, but they are 

 well-nigh useless, and are about as shapely and graceful as a 

 pair of old shoes. Apparently they are made for use in ges- 

 turing rather than in work, for when the animal rests upon 

 the ground, the flippers break squarely at two joints and are 

 folded under the body, backs downward! There are times, 

 however, when the flippers are of some use in feeding, in 



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