WHALES AND MERMAIDS 307 



but differs from the last-named animal in having no 

 tusks, though it has more grinding teeth. In the young 

 there are rudimentary teeth concealed beneath the horny 

 plates. As they never penetrate these plates they must 

 be useless, and they quite disappear before the animal is 

 adult. The manatee has a very peculiar upper lip, which 

 has a median division, on each side of which is a lateral 

 lobe or pad. These pads may either be moved apart or 

 be brought closely together, and thus the animal can 

 grasp its food. When about to feed it will first separate 

 the two lateral lobes and then close them upon the 

 branch or leaf it is going to feed on, afterward bending 

 back the whole lip, so as to introduce the food thus 

 seized into its mouth without any need of employing the 

 lower lip for this purpose. 



We saw when studying the sloth that the number of 

 bones in the neck of nearly all beasts is, as also in man, 

 seven. Such is also the case in the dugong, but in the 

 manatee — though its neck is no shorter — there are but 

 six such bones. 



The name " manatee " seems to have been given 

 originally to this animal by some of the first Spanish 

 settlers in the West Indies, on account of the strangely 

 free and hand- like use it can make of its paddle-like fore 

 limbs. It uses them for bringing food towards its 

 mouth, and can bend the wrist and elbow, as well as the 

 shoulder-joint. There are generally also more or less 

 rudimentary nails on the fingers. 



The manatee differs in habits from the dugong in that 

 it frequents rivers, estuaries, and lagoons, preferring 

 shallow water, and quite eschewing the open sea. It 

 feeds exclusively on aquatic plants, on which it browses 

 under water, and is extremely slow in its movements 

 and inactive. It has a small and simply formed brain, 



