CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 12. GET ACE A. 



663 



The M. Senegalensis is about eight feet in length; it is the Woman-Fish of Purcbas. All these 

 species are pursued with avidity for food; in Brazil they are allowed by the Catholic Church to 

 be eaten as fish on meager days, and hence are much sought after. 



Genus HALICORE : Halicore. — On the east coast of Africa, and on the shores of the Indian 

 Ocean, the place of the Manatees is taken by the animals of this genus, in which the molars are 

 never more tban five on each side in each jaw, while in old animals their number is reduced to 

 two. The form of the upper jaw is very remarkable : it is bent downward in front of the lower 

 jaw, and terminated by two rather large incisor teeth. The tail is notched. 



THE DUGONG. 



The Dugong, H. Dugong, in its habits resembles the manatees, but it exceeds them in size, full- 

 grown individuals measuring eighteen or twenty feet in length. The natives of the countries near 

 which they live, kill them in considerable numbers, usually capturing them with spears. The 

 flesh is very delicate, and is considered a royal dish by the Malays. Westward this species extend 

 to the Red Sea and the east coast of Africa, but they do not appear to be known north of the 

 Eastern Archipelago, on the coasts of China and Japan. The female produces generally but one 

 at a birth, and to this the mother bears such strong affection that, if it is speared, she will not 

 depart, but is sure to be taken also. The Malays consider this animal as almost typical of 

 maternal affection. The young utter a short and sharp cry, and are said to shed tears, which are 

 carefully preserved by the common people as a charm, under the notion that they will secure the 

 affections of those whom they love, as they attract the mother to her young. 



The H. Tabernaculi, found in the Red Sea, resembles the preceding, and is considered a dis- 

 tinct species by Ruppel, who named it as above, from an idea that with its skin the Jew T s were 

 directed to cover the Tabernacle. 



The H. Australia, the Manate of Dampier, is found on the west coast of Australia. 



Genus RYTINA : Rytina. — Of this there was a single species, the Morskaia Korova or Sea- 

 Ape of Pennant, R. gigas, or R. S teller i ; it has, however, like the Dodo, become extinct. It was 

 discovered in 1741 near an island in Behring's Straits, where Behriug was shipwrecked and where 

 he perished, and was then abundant there. It formed the chief food of the unfortunate' mariners 

 who were compelled to spend ten months in that inhospitable region. It was twenty-five feet 

 long and twenty in girth; the skin was thin, soft, and whitish, but was covered by a coat of horny 

 tubes, set thick like hair. These animals were long since extirpated by the adventurers who 

 visited this region in search of sea-otters, and all that now remains consists of a skull and a few 

 fragments of bones in European museums. 



Fossil Cetacea of several genera have been found, including numerous extinct species ; among 

 them there is a skeleton of the Zeuglodon, nearly seventy feet in length, found in Alabama, and 

 similar bones are found in Mississippi and Louisiana. 



SKELETON OF THE WHALE. 



