68 



GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL .MAIMMALS A\I) BIRDS. 



Pier-case fed upon 

 llse V. naturalist 



Pier-case 

 29 (30). 



i 





'tl 



s^ 



its flesh. It was described by 8teik'i-, a German 

 in the Eussian service in J 751, and a copy of his 

 drawing of the living animal is 

 fixed on the Pillar lietween Tier- 

 cases 20 and 21. This massive 

 creature sometimes attained a length 

 of 25 feet; and a nearly complete 

 skeleton of an individual about 

 'S 20 feet long (Fig. 64) is mounted, 

 ' with other remains, in a large case 



marked Y. Bhytina ^v as destitute oH 

 ■ teeth, which were replaced by cor- 

 ; rugated, horny plates ; it also appears 

 ; to have lacked ordinary hands. Its 



1 hones occur in the peat-bogs and 

 ! swamps of the islands round wdiicli 

 ; it lived, and they are discovered by 

 1^ prodding the soft ground with an 

 ;> iron l)ar which strikes them. 

 1 I Ilalitherlum, from the Oligocene 

 r2- and Lower Miocene of Europe, is 

 i^^. essentially a manatee, but it lacks 

 :-2 the apparently unlimited supply of 

 ;-« grindiufT teeth which characterise 

 ; ^ the surviviufj animal. It also 

 '-g exhibits a less rudimentary pelvis 

 ;g than any other known Sirenian, 

 1*2 w4th a small Ijone representing 

 ' o the femur. A well-preserved small 

 I skeleton and a restored model of 

 : a larger skeleton of Halithcriurn 

 ; schinzi (Fig. 65), from the Oligocene 

 I of Hesse-Darmstadt, are mounted 

 : in Case Y. There is also an im- 

 I perfect skull, named Halithcrinni 

 ' canhami, from the Eed Crag of 

 i Suffolk (see Table-case 1a). Felsi- 

 ; notherium is a closely similar animal 



from Northern Italy. 



Prorastomus is another extinct 

 genus known only with certainty 

 by the unique skull from an early 

 Tertiary limestone in Jamaica, 

 which is exhiliited in Pier-case 29 



