THE MANATI-KS. SIXK AND WEIGHT. H7 



SIZE OF TIIK Kl.OHIDA M \\.\ I I.K. III treating if (lie si/c of the Amciicall Manatees, it will 

 be necessary to consider tin- two species separately, although tlic adults seein to attain nearly 

 equal proportions. Harlan gives, as the maximum length of the Florida Man, itee, eight or ten fuel, 

 but these ineasureiiieiits weie not made liy hiiiiseli'. 1 Mr. VV. A. Coiikliii, director of the Central 

 Park menagerie, in New York City, gives the following dimensions of a specimen kept alive in that 

 establishment in 1ST.'!: "The following are its absolute dimensions: length, feet 9i inches; cir- 

 cumference around the body, 4 feet 9 inches; length of flipper, 1 foot; width of same, 4jj inches; 

 width of tail joining body, 1 foot OJ inches; greatest width of tad, 1 foot 84 inches; weight, 450 

 pounds." * 



I am not aware that any other -measurements of the Florida Manatee, under its pro|>er name, 

 are on record. 



SIZE AND WEIGHT OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN MANATEK. The size of the South American 

 Manatee has been differently estimated by different observers. "This Creature," says Dampier, 

 "is about the bigness of a Horse, and 10 or 12 foot long. ... I have heard that some have 

 weighed above 1200 L. but I never saw any so large." 3 



Stedman, alluding to a Manatee which floated past his encampment on the river Cottica, in 

 Surinam, says: "This Manatee was exactly sixteen feet long, almost shapeless, being an enormous 

 lump of fat, tapered back to a fleshy, broad, horizontal tail " 4 



Smyth and Lowe captured a Manatee in 1835 in Peru, at their encampment at Sarayacu, on 

 the Ucayali. "We had one opportunity," they relate, "while at this place, of examining a taca 

 marina, or manatee, that was just caught; but, not being anatomists, are unable to give a scientific 

 account of it. The animal was seven feet eight inches long from the snout to the tip of the 

 tail. . . . This was not considered a large one. . . . When the animal was killed, it 

 took the united strength of at least forty men to drag it up from the water to the town, which they 

 effected by means of our ropes." 5 



In 1872 Dr. Murie published a valuable memoir on the South American Manatee, in which he 

 gives measurements of two specimens which reached London in 18GO, fresh but not alive. The 

 length of one, a young male, from the Maroui River, in Surinam, was forty eight inches or four 

 feet; that of the second specimen, a young female, from Porto Rico, sixty-live inches, or five feet 

 tive inches. In his remarks on these animals, Dr. Murie says: "When studying in the Stuttgart 

 Museum, I derived much information from Professor Krauss, the nble director. Among other 

 things he mentioned that their large stuffed specimen of Manatee was the mother of our Society's 

 young male, as attested by Herr Koppler, of Surinam, who transmitted it. The length of the female 

 mounted skin I ascertained to be 122 inches [ten feet two inches], therefore twice and a hall tin- 

 length of the young animal possibly six or eight months old. Another slutted male s|M-ciinen ut 

 Stuttgart measures 94 inches. Both of the above are doubtless stretched to their fullest extent; 

 still, one is justified in assuming the adult Manatux to be from 9 to 10 feet long."" Of the weight 

 of the s|>ecimens he remarks: "According to Mr. Greey, the entire carcass of the Zoological 

 Society's female, when weighed immediately after death on board ship, was 228 Ibs. That of the 

 young male as ascertained by myself was 01 Ibs." 4 



HAIM.AN: Fuuua Americana, 18>, |. 277. 



'CONKLIN: The Manatee at Ontrnl Park, in " Forest mid Stream." i, 1874, p. 166. 

 'DAMIMKR: A New Voyage round the World, i, ITo.:. ]>]>. :I3,34. 

 *STKDMAX: Narrative of an expedition to Surinam, ii. K'.iii, p. IT.'i. 

 'SMYTH nnd LOWK: Journey from Lima to Para. London, I85(i, p. 197. 



MuitlK: On the form and structure of the Manatee. Transaction* Zixilogiral Society of Ixmdon. viii, 1873, pp. 

 129-131. 



