44 DR. J. MUllIE ON THE MANATEE. 



valuable researches of Dr. Herman von Jhering\ on the subject of the interdependence 

 of nerves and vertebrae in the different regions and in several groups of the Vertebrata, 

 strongly tend to sustain the view I have offered. Therefore, until more weighty con 

 tra'ry evidence is forthcoming, I am inclined to reiterate my belief in the third vertebra 

 being that absent in the neck of Manatus. 



Regarding the present illustration of the sternum (PI. VIII. fig. 2), I have introduced 

 this, with its attached cartilages, as showing variation in shape and development from 

 that already given by Prof. W. K. Parker' and myself. The muscular variations of 

 the manus extant are not so very peculiar in themselves ; but in the bearing of such a 

 question as has been raised by Dr. D. J. Cunningham* they possess increased interest. 

 Dr. Chapman {I. c. p. 453) has evidently mistaken the conventional flesh-colour, given 

 in my former lithographs, as the natural one ; indeed the flesh was rather the tint of 

 veal or pork, as was Garrod's specimen. 



I did not measure the blood-corpuscles, leaving this to Dr. George Gulliver, to wliom 

 I supplied material for examination, and who found the corpuscles even of greater 

 diameter than stated by Garrod. Gulliver^ gives the average size as 2^00 of an inch, 

 and as compared with 2^5-0 inch in the White Whale {Belucjcif. 



The Manatee's choice of food when in confinement is singular ; but as yet data are too 

 scanty to judge of what may be the likes and dislikes of the tribe. The utter silence of 

 this Westminster-Aquarium example seems to denote that the Manatees seldom use their 

 vocal organs; but among the males and during rutting-season I have no doubt it is other- 

 wise. Hearing, according to Chapman and what I have observed, is acute enough. The 

 difference in shape of tail in this and former examples, taken along with Prof. Wilders's 

 foetal specimen [1. c), shows a want of constancy in outline, especially as regards tapering 

 and tip-incision. It is satisfactory for me to find my opinion of the possibility of 

 specimens surviving transport and living in England confirmed. I think there can be 

 no doubt of a diminution of the species in their old haunts and, like the northern 

 Rhytinm, extinction near : hence the importance of anatomical work and study of their 

 habits while yet possible ; for as a link to the study of strange palseontological forms, we 

 have in Manatus and Halicore only the remnants of a chance in the elucidation of a 

 group strange and interesting to a degree, so far as ancestorship is concerned. This 



' Das peripherische Nerveusystom der Wirbelthiere ala Grundlage fiir die Kenntniss der Begioubildung 

 der "Wirbelsiiule, p. 11 «( seq. ; Leipzig, 1878. 



' The Structiire and Development of the Shoulder-girdle and Sternum in the Vertebrata, p. 219, pi. xxLx. 

 fig- 21. ' Memoir, I. c. pi. xxiv. fig. 30. 



* " The Intrinsic Muscles of the Hand of the Thylacine and Phaacogale," Camb. Journ. of Anat. and 

 Physiol, vol. xii. p. 434 (Ft. 3, April 1878). Quite recently, and while this was in the printer's hands, there 

 appears in the same journal Dr. AJf. H. Young's paper on " The Intrinsic Muscles of the Marsupial Hand 

 (vol. xiv. p. 149, Jan. 1880), where Cunningham's generalizations are further discussed. 



^ Consult his paper thereon, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (ser. 5) vol. ii. p. 172 (1878). 



