26 DE. J. MUEIE ON THE MANATEE. 



figs. 7 & 9, would occur, and even that the positions in figs. 1, '2, and 3 might obtain, 

 as movement in the water caused flexion and change of outline according to circum- 

 stances; but that the peculiar attitudes, with bent body and tail, shown in figs. 5, 

 G, & 8 (same plate) should be by far the most ordinary ways in which the Manatee 

 rests stationary for hours together, was not to be previously conceived or looked for. 

 The attitudes depicted were, moreover, again and again witnessed by crowds of on- 

 lookers. According as the water was higher or lower, so did the animal incline to 

 its relative position in the tank, often preferring to be sufiiciently near the surface 

 for a leisurely turn upwards of the bent body to enable the nostrils to reach the air. 

 On occasions, possibly being cramped for want of plenty of room, it would by a slow 

 kind of half-rolling easy turn display a variety of movement, see fig. 4, PI. V. It cer- 

 tainly was very extraordinary and suggestive of one use of its great broad flat tail to 

 find this latter bent under and resting on the ground, while the body with dependent 

 fore limbs (fig. 8) lay horizontally above. But the highly curved body, head, and tail 

 as the creature floated without evident motion (fig. 5) was quite as remarkable, and, to 

 me, a new and unexpected attitude, and one of very frequent occurrence. At one time 

 it would fioat, doze, and sleep with body and tail stretched perfectly horizontal (fig. 7) ; 

 at another, descending to the bottom, it lay full stretched in the more natural slum- 

 bering posture of repose (fig. 9). 



Again, when feeding, while not unfrequently it would seize with its bristle-clad lips 

 and munch the lettuces near the surface appearing in side view, much as in PI. V. 

 fig. 1, yet the most common position in feeding was that in PI. VII. fig. 1. The last- 

 mentioned figure, moreover, shows how it uses its fiippers or fore paws to grasp the 

 vegetable substances and convey or hold and steady them while the corners of the 

 upper lip bend in, as shall afterwards be spoken of. 



Dr. Chapman {I. c. p. 461) mentions, " When not in motion the Manatee rested by 

 the tip of his tail upon tlie fioor of the aquarium, his head downward, and with the 

 back much arched." I presume, therefore, he means one or other of the positions (see 

 the present fig. 5 or 8, PI. V.). 



The fore limb, and obviously the manus, has a greater variety of movement than 

 might be thought possible from its stiff skin-gloved character — a circumstance explained 

 by the well-developed hand-muscles ; for there is not merely an extensive web of stout 

 aponeurotic fascia, as obtains in the Whales. In the Manatee under consideration I 

 observed that, when at rest, the flipjiers were usually partially tucked in under the 

 body, but unequally so, the left one having received an injiu-y which, though healed, 

 had left a stiff joint. 



There would seem to be little doubt but the attitudes now depicted are the 

 natural ones of Ilanatus, and those quite habitual to the genus. Thus, knowing it 

 frequents lagoons, estuaries, and other shallow waters where herbage is abundant, the 

 conditions (save less reeds and muddy water) of tank to a pool are quite within the 

 bounds of comparison. 



