188 DR. J. MURIE ON THE FORM AND STRUCTURE OF THE MANATEE. 



membrane is present ; to this, as in the Elephant, a cartilage is attached ; and the chief 

 opening of what represents a Harderian duct is at a recess below the inner middle of 

 the lid. A lachrymal gland was not distinguished. The choanoid muscle is divided 

 into an upper and a lower pair of strong bands ; and the superior inner one, with an 

 oblique course, has a partial attachment to the cartilage. The antagonist to this is the 

 levator palpebrae, a narrower slip, obliquely directed inwards and downwards from the 

 tarsal membrane. The remaining orbital muscles are much weaker, and posteriorly are 

 lost in the dense sheath of the long optic nerve. Taken as a whole the eye is very 

 elephantine, yet combining, in thickness of sclerotic, outline of chambers, rete, &c., 

 whale-like characters. 



In the absence of pinna a small orifice, a line in diameter, into which a probe could 

 be passed, alone represents the external meatus. It is situated on a level with the 

 posterior end of the malar bone, 4 inches behind the eye. A narrow cord-like fibrous 

 tube, 3 inches long, with an S-shaped bend, leads to the membrana tympani. The 

 latter is a wide ellipsoidal thickish membrane, the fibres of which from above and 

 below obliquely meet the tube as it passes across the centre. A thin narrow edge of 

 the malleus abuts against the inside of the membrane in the same oblique direction, 

 and divides the tympanic cavity into an upper and a lower chamber. The swollen 

 malleolar head rests in the anterior cavity of the periotic ; and, with a tricuspid facet, 

 the much smaller but wide-limbed incus is attached superiorly and posteriorly to it. 

 The fork of the incus embraces a descending process of the posterior half of the periotic ; 

 and the shorter incudal limb articulates with the stapes. The latter, a nearly solid, 

 straight bone, inferiorly rests in a groove of the petrous portion of the periotic. In 

 both instances none of the small ear-bones was ankylosed to the tympano-pei-iotic. 

 The large Eustachian tube communicates with the auditory chamber just in front of 

 the stylo-hyal cartilage. 1 was disappointed of further examination of the interior soft 

 structures, the injection having extravasated in the one case, and necessity for destruc- 

 tion of the bones interfering in the other. 



X. Parts related to Generation 

 {in the Female and Male). 



In Sir Everard Home's figure, copied by Frederick Cuvier and others, a very pro- 

 minent teat is represented as occupying the postaxillary space. This was not the case 

 in either of the Society's specimens, most probably from their juvenile condition, 

 although it is to be remarked that the larger one equalled Sir Everard's in size. The 

 female, however, had a pair of rudimentary axillary nipple-like bodies ; but in the male 

 none were found. On removal of the integument in both animals, a careful dissection 

 was made of the subcutaneous tissues and the fat filling the deep interspace between 

 the shoulder and pectoral portions of the panniculus, but no trace of lactiferous ducts 

 could be detected. 



Upon the surface of the chest, immediately behind and partially dipping into the 



