392 



CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



though it can hardly be supposed that its range was always so 

 restricted. When first discovered it was extremely numerous in 

 the shallow bays round Behring's Island, finding abundant nutri- 

 ment in the large laminarisp growing in the sea. Its extirpation 



102. 



104. 



FIG. 102. SKULL OF AFRICAN MANATEE (Manatus Senegal ensis). 



Xl-5. (After Flower). 



FIG. 103. THE FRONT VIEW OF THE HEAD OF THE AMERICAN 



MANATEE. 



Showing the eyes, nostrils and mouth, and with the lobes of the upper lip divaricated. 



FIG. 104. THE SAME. 



With the lip contracted. (After Flower, from Murie.) These figures all copied by the Author. 



is entirely due to the Russian hunters and traders who followed 

 upon the track of the explorers, and who, upon Steller's sugges- 

 tion, lived upon the flesh of the great Sea-cows. Its restricted 

 distribution, large size, inactive habits, fearlessness of man, and 

 even its affectionate disposition toward its own kind when 



