312 TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



company. They then crossed the North Pacific, and 

 having (for the sake of a reward) stopped a few hours on 

 the American coast, sought to return as quickly as 

 possible. They were, however, wi^ecked on a little island 

 at no great distance from the coast of Kamtschatka, now 

 known as Behring Island. There Steller met with this 

 animal, afterwards named rhytina by the naturalist 

 Illiger. Steller, who was on the look-out for American 

 things, took the animal to be that American mermaid, 

 the manatee. Probably because of this and on account 

 of the enormous multitude of individuals met with — 

 perhaps also for lack of space — he took no part of the 

 animal back with him. But he found that the crea- 

 ture's liesh w^as very good to eat, and so recommended 

 traders to use it for provision. This advice was only 

 too readily and perseveringly acted on, for in twenty- 

 seven years from that date not a single living rhytina 

 remained, the last being killed in 1768, so far as any 

 certain information has been obtained. It appears never 

 to have inhabited the Aleutian Isles, nor America, nor 

 Kamtschatka, nor the Kurile Islands, but w^hen first 

 discovered was extremely numerous at Behring Island, 

 finding abundant food in the large seaweeds which float 

 about the coast. But its habits and disposition easily 

 account for its rapid destruction. Like the manatee, 

 the rhytina was very voracious, but it only fed in shallow 

 water, and had very frequently to come to the surface 

 to breathe. It was also exceedingly stupid and dull of 

 sight and hearing, but perhaps its affectionate feelings 

 were even more fatal to it, for if either a male or female 

 were harpooned, its mate remained beside it and made 

 endless stupid efforts to reUeve it. 



So completely destroyed was it that people became 

 sceptical as to its ever having existed. But Brandt 



