ORDER GET ACE A. 



FAMILY S PIKACULARIA. SPOUTERS. 



55 



Two of the dogs, which had fortunately that moment joined us, met them 

 in their charge, and, by diverting their attention, probably saved Isaac 

 from instant destruction. The Buffaloes now took up another position in 

 an adjoining thicket. They were both badly wounded, blotches and pools 

 of blood marking the ground where they had stood. The dogs rendered 

 me assistance by taking up their attention, and in a few minutes these two 

 noble Bulls breathed their last beneath the shade of a mimosa grove. Each 

 of thorn, in dying, repeatedly uttered a very striking, low, deep moan. 

 This I subsequently ascertained the Buffalo invariably utters when in the 

 act of expiring. 



" Isaac did not soon forget his adventure with the Buffaloes ; and at 

 night over the fire he informed my men that I was mad, and that any man 

 who followed me was going headlong to his own destruction." 



ORDER IX. CETACEA. CETACEAN. 



THIS order, the largest of all the orders of the class Mammalia, consists 

 of animals destitute of limbs on the hinder parts of their body. In their 

 general form they resemble the class Pisces ; and, with two exceptions 

 only, they are all inhabitants of the deep. Like the other orders of the 

 Mammalia, they have warm blood; they also breathe through lungs the 

 wonderful structure of which, and the large reservoirs they possess for ar- 

 terial blood, enable them to remain under water a considerable time after 

 they have been to the surface for a renewal of atmospheric air. Their order 

 is named from the Latin Cete, " Whales." 



Family GRAZERS ; Herbivora. 



The members of this family are distinguished from the Spiracularia by 

 the nature of their food ; the latter being, more or less, flesh-eaters, while 

 the former live upon vegetable productions. 



ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES. 

 PLATE 22. 



Genera. Species. Common Name. 



Manatus 

 Halieore - 

 Rytiua - - 



Americanus - - 

 Dugong - - - 

 Stelleri - - - 



- - American Manatee. 



- - Dugong. 



- - Steller's Rytina. 



CHARACTERS OF THE GENERA. 



1. MANATUS (Lat. manus, a hand). Head not distinct from the body; 

 neither incisive nor cuspid teeth ; molar teeth eight on each side in both 

 jaws, with square crowns having six tubercles in two transverse ridges; 

 eyes very small ; body oblong, very sparingly covered with hair, tapering 

 towards the tail, and terminating in an elongated, oval fin ; two pectoral 

 teats ; anterior limbs finniform, five-toed, furnished with four nails ; hind 

 limbs covered by the skin and not visible externally. 



2. HALICOKE (Gr. aXioc, marine, and nopr), a maid). In the upper 

 jaw a pair of short conical tusks, occupying the place of the incisive teeth, 

 which are wanting in both jaws; no cuspid teeth; molars three on a side 

 in each jaw far back ; muzzle obtuse ; no auricles, but the auditory open- 

 ings very small, and at some distance behind the eyes; the fore legs 

 distinct, the feet enclosed in skin forming fins ; rudiments of hinder ex- 

 tremities are found in the muscles opposite the lumbar vertebrae, but do 

 not appear externally. 



3. RYTIJTA (Gr. pime, a wrinkle). Neither incisive, cuspid, nor any 

 true molar teeth, but in the place of the latter a pair of bones with irre- 

 gular surfaces, one in the palate and the other in the lower jaw ; muzzle 

 obtuse ; no auricles ; body covered with a rough, fibrous, and thick cuticle, 

 of a lengthened form and tapering towards the tail ; teats pectoral ; fore 

 limbs arm-shaped, terminating in a hoof-like callus, but without any toes ; 

 hind limbs, if any, not visible externally. 



. CETACEA. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIES. 



MANATIS the Manali. These animals live in herds near the mouths of 

 rivers, and are rarely seen at any distance from land ; they come into the 



shallows to feed on a peculiar kind of grass, as they are entirely herbivorous, 

 but never come ashore. They are timid, but warmly attached to their 

 young, which they carry on their fins for some days after birth. The 

 Manatees are the animals which have been so often mistaken for Mermaids 

 by sailors, to which the position of their teats and their increased size 

 during gestation have led. 



The species M. Americanus (Plate 22) is about twelve feet long : it is 

 found in the Amazon and Oronoque rivers, and also in the rivers of Cayenne 

 and the Antilles, but lately it has become scarce. 



Another species is the M. Senagalensis, found at the mouths of the rivers 

 on the African coast. In length it does not exceed eight feet, which was 

 the principal point of distinction noticed between it and the preceding 

 species, till Cuvier observed a difference of formation in the skull. 



HALICORE Dugong. This animal, which is figured on Plate 22 has 

 a rounded body, diminishing towards the tail, which is broad, horizontal, 

 and crescent- shaped; the skin is thick, smooth, bluish above, and white 

 below, and sprinkled with a very few hairs. 



The Dugongs are natives of the East Indian seas, and common at Singa- 

 pore ; they are caught about eight or nine feet in length, but when larger 

 generally escape, and therefore to what size they attain is not known. It 

 feeds on algae and other marine vegetables, which grow in these places, 

 browsing on them in much the same manner as a cow. 



RYTINA Stellerine. There is but one species known, the Trichechus 

 Borealis of Shaw, and the R. Stelleri of Illiger, who so named it from the 

 wrinkled appearance of its skin. (Plate 22.) It is about twenty-three feet 

 in length, and eight thousand pounds in weight. The body is covered 

 with a very thick hide, the cuticle of which resembles the bark of the 

 Quercus Annuosa rather than cuticle ; it is black, rough, wrinkled, so hard 

 and tough as scarcely to be cut with an axe, about an inch thick, and not 

 hairy. When cut through transversely it resembles ebony both in colour 

 and smoothness. The use of this thick covering is evidently not only to 

 preserve the vital heat, but also to protect them against the blows they are 

 exposed to when thrown about by the waves upon the rocks and among 

 the ice whilst in search of food. 



These animals are fond of shallow, sandy places upon the sea-shore, but, 

 attracted by the sweetness of the water, they freely resort in herds to the 

 mouths of rivulets, always keeping the young and weakly in the centre of 

 the flock. Their conjugal attachment is so great that, if the female be 

 hooked, her mate will, after having made fruitless efforts for her release, 

 and in spite of the blows inflicted on him by the fishers, dash on shore to 

 her, though dead, with the swiftness of an arrow. And Steller mentions 

 that he saw a male visit his dead mate not only on the second day when 

 she was cut in pieces, but also on the third. 



Family SPOUTERS ; Spiracularia. 



This family is distinguished by a peculiar nasal organization, enabling 

 them to eject from their nostrils, or blow-holes, large quantities of water 

 which rush in at their capacious mouths when opened to seize their prey. 



ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES. 



PLATE 23. 

 Genera. Species. Common Name. 



Delphinus - - - Dclphis - - - - Common Dolphin. 



Monodon - - - Monoceros - - - Narwhal. 



Physeter - - - - Macrocephalus - - Cachalot or Spermaceti Whale. 



(Common Greenland or 

 Balaena - - - - Mysticetus - - -| whalebone whale . 



Another Genus of this family : Uranodon. 



CHARACTERS OF THE GENERA. 



DELPHINDS. Teeth in both jaws, single and generally conical. 



MONODON (Gr. ^oVoc, single, and oJove, a tooth). Two teeth, of which 

 one is generally deficient in the extremity of the upper jaw, very 'long, 

 projecting, pointed and directed forwards in the axis of the body ; no other 



