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TV. Further Observations on the Manatee. By James Murie, M.B., LL.D., F.G.S., 



Assist. Secretary Linnean Society. 



Eeceived June 17th, read Juno 17th, 1879. 



[Plates V.-IX.] 



Contents. 



Beview of recent Researches on Manatus . page 19 

 History and Observations on Habits of Live Spe- 

 cimen . . . • 21 



Notes on Dead Specimen, its outward aspect . 27 

 Memoranda on the Muscular System .... 32 



On the Cervical Nerves page 35 



On the Brain 39 



Concluding Remarks 42 



Description of the Plates 45 



Review of recent Researches on Manatus. — Since the publication in the Society's 

 'Transactions' (vol. viii. pp. 127-202) of my researches "On the Form and Structure 

 of the Manatee," three important papers on the development and anatomy of this 

 animal have appeared i. 



1. In the American ' Journal of Science and Arts,' vol. x. Aug. 1875 -, Prof. Burt G. 

 Wilder, of Cornell University, has writen a short but trenchant article, with a plate, 

 " On a Foetal Manatee and Cetacean, with Remarks upon the Affinities and Ancestry 



' In the above remarks on the literature I have solely restricted myself to anatomical labours on the Manatee. 

 Short notices, such as those by Dr. Sclator (P. Z. S. 1875, p. 529), Prof. Garrod (P. Z. S. 1875, 529 & 567), W. 

 B. Tegetmeier (' Field,' July 6, 1878), and E. Harting ('Zoologist,' 1878, p. 285), need no more than passing 

 mention. I should, though, do injustice to two writers did I remain silent respecting their papers, viz. :— 



1. " On the Affinities of the Sirenians," by Dr. Theodore Gill (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1873, 

 pp. 262-273). In this cleverly put dissertation the author suggests " that the ordinary Cetaceans and the 

 Sirenians are derivatives from a common original stock— a generalized GyrencephaUc type." He admits we 

 have no clear evidence of such a progenitor. Afterwards he discusses the relations of the Sirenians, analyzing 

 the characters, differentiating Manatus from Cetaceans, and, again, those characters common to the Sirenia and 

 Tngulata, of which latter he aUows there are none. Neither does he admit Manatus among the Pachyderms. 

 Lastly he deduces the genealogy of the Sirenia thus :— Proto-Sirenian, whence HaUtheriidas, Halicoridse, and 

 Rhytinidoe on the one hand, and the Trichechoidea on the other. 



2. " Description de I'OEuf et du Placenta de Halicon dmjong," par le Dr. Paul Harting (Tijdsch. d. Nederl. 

 Dierk. Vereen, Deel iv. 1879, pp. 1-29, pis. i., ii.). Most interesting, no Sireniau placenta having hitherto been 

 examined. This research is based on a foetus and membranes in the Zoological Museum of Utrecht. A full 

 description of the structural peculiarities is given, showing it to be a diffuse, non-deciduous placenta ; and 

 then follows a comparison with that of Cetacea aud divers Pachyderms, between which groups it seems to 

 stand midway. The author acknowledges that the diffuse form of placentation is met with in groups so touch 

 apart that its taxonomic significance loses all value ; even the distinction deciduous and non-deciduous, in his 

 opinion, cannot lead to a iiatural classification. 



- Pp. 1-10, plate viii. I here quote from a separate copy extracted from the Journal in question, and 

 kindly forwarded me by the author. 



VOL. XI. — PARTH. No. 1. — August, 188£ 



