Manatid^e. MAMMALIA. Marsupiai.ia. 



207 



suit of living animals. In those the snout is conical 

 and peculiarly elongated, and in some, as in Deljihinus 

 Ganijeticus, the jaws are produced to an extreme 

 length, so as to give them every advantage in seizing 

 their swift and slippery prey ; whilst in the herhivorous 

 Dugong the snout is as ri.'markable for its obtuse, trun- 

 cate character — a form, however, which is equally 

 advantageous to it, and well adapted to its habits of 

 browsing upon tlie algie and fuci which grow upon the 

 submarine rocks of the Indian seas. As, from the fixed 

 nature of the Dugong's food, the motions of the animal 

 during the time of feeding must relate more immediately 

 to the necessity of coming to the surface to respire ; 

 its tail, the principal organ of locomotive ascent and 

 descent, is proportionally gi'cater than in the true 

 Cetacea, its breadth being rather more than one-tliird 

 the length of the whole body." The Dugong enjoys a 

 pretty wide geographical distribution, being found not 

 only in the Indian seas generally, but also in the Eed 

 Sea; formerly large numbers inhabited the shores of 

 tlie Isle of France. According to Sir Stamford Raffles, 

 and others, they usually feed at two, three, or four 

 fathoms' depth of water. They are abundant oft the 

 Malayan coast, and especially at the mouth of the 

 Johore river. The native Malays spear them at night- 

 time ; their presence being indicated by a simffing noise. 

 AVhen caught, the tail is raised up out of the water, as 

 tlie animal is quite powerless in this position. The 

 habits of the Dugong are gregarious, herduig, says 

 Leguat, to the extent of tliree or fom' hundred indi- 

 viduals at a single spot. Like otlier cetaceans, they 

 display extraordinary attaclunent to their young, de- 

 fending them to the death ; on being taken the suckers 

 utter a short and sharp cry. All accounts agree in 

 considering the flesh to be delicate and pleasant eating. 



One or two other Dugongs have been described. 

 Ruppell considers the form inhabiting the Red Sea as a 

 separate species ; and this opuiion is shared by several 

 naturalists. It was called by him Halicore Taherna- 

 culi, from a notion that tlie skin was employed by 

 the Jews in veiling the tabernacle. The Australian 

 Dugong (H. australis) is generally admitted to be 

 distinct. 



STELLEE'S RHYTINA {Rhytina Stelleri)—F]ate 26, 

 fig. 86 — is one of those interesting mammalian forms 

 whose extinction is only of very recent date, yet so com- 

 plete as to have left scarce a wreck behind. Discovered 

 in 1741, after a few short years it entirely succumbed to 



the rapacity of our greedy race, who, widiout even 

 aflbrding naturalists a fan- opportmiity of unravelling its 

 curious structure, have swept it from its native shores, 

 and well-nigh obliterated all trace of its existence. It 

 is well for science, that Steller, whose worthy name 

 it bears, was among the number of those unfortmiate 

 voyagers who were wrecked on the inhospitable shores 

 of the dreary island where this animal was first dis- 

 covered ; and it is still more fortunate that he left an 

 authentic record of his discovery, which was published 

 subsequent to his death by the Academy of St. Peters- 

 burg in 1749, and afterwards at Halle hi 1753, in a 

 separate treatise entitled " Ansfiilirliche Beschreibung 

 von sonderbaren Meerthieren;" At the time of its 

 discovery on Beliruig's Island, it does not appear to 

 have been particularly abimdant, and since the year 

 1768 no trace of its presence in a livhig state has ever 

 been recorded. There can be no doubt, however, that 

 considerable numbers previously existed, and these, it 

 appears, have all fallen a prey to the Aleutian sea- 

 otter hunters, whose exploits have been so graphically 

 described by tlie Russian exploi-er Von Kotzebue, and 

 others. StoUer's Rhytina attained a length of upwards 

 of twenty-four feet, its greatest circumferential girtli 

 being about twenty feet. According to Steller the 

 pectoral flippers contauied no digits, which, if correct, 

 is very remarkable ; and what is equally singular, there 

 were no teeth either above or below, their absence 

 being amply compensated by the presence of hard 

 undulating lamellae — partly made up of horny tubes and 

 partly calcareous — which covered the jaws internally, 

 and performed all the necessary functions of bruising, 

 masticating, and detaching tlie sea-weeds, on which 

 these animals lived. Another peculiarity is mentioned 

 as afiecting the skin ; the epidermis being fully an inch 

 in thickness, and composed of thick cylindrical fibres, 

 which were curiously folded or fissured, so as to present 

 a very rugged uneven surface ; the true dermis remain- 

 ing comparatively thin. The surfece of the hide ex- 

 hibited a deep brown or purplish -black tint. The head 

 was small when compared with the bulk of the body ; 

 the tail, on the contrary, extensively developed and 

 of an oval figure. The stomach is described by 

 Steller as small. In the catalogue of Cetacea, preserved 

 in the British Museum, this species is alluded to under 

 tlie title of the !Morskaia Korova or Rhytina giyas. It 

 has also been described under the generic appellations 

 of Stellerus, Manatus, and even Triohechus. 



Order XIII.— MARSUPIALIA. 



As indicated in the general mtroduction to the class 

 Mammalia, the present order exhibits several charai;ters 

 ■widely differing from those displayed by any of the 

 foregomg, the distmctive features having especial refer- 

 ence to the parts concerned m the reproduction and 

 the rearing of their yoimg. It is almost superfluous, 

 therefore, to recapitulate the facts — succmctly stated at 

 page 8 — which have led naturalists to acquiesce in the 

 ari'angement of Cuvier, who first grouped the marsupials 



together under the ordinal title above retained ; never- 

 theless it may be well to observe, in brief, that the 

 external and mternal characters by which these ani- 

 mals are at once recognized depend upon the presence 

 of abdomhial pouches or foldings of the skin, which are 

 inverted m the females for the pmpose of concealing, 

 protecting, and nourishing tlie yoimg, and everted in 

 the males for tlie lodgment of the reproductive glands. 

 The young are born in an imperfectly developed 



