e197! J 
V. On the Form and Structure of the Manatee (Manatus americanus). 
By Dr. James Mur, F.L.S., F.GS., &e. 
Read November 15th, 1870. 
[Piates XVII. to XXVI_] 
J. Exterior ASPECTS AND DIMENSIONS. 
1. GENERAL CONTOUR.—Awong original investigators of the uncouth aquatic 
-mammal the Manatee, the painstaking Daubenton, in one of Buffon’s well-known 
volumes, has given a representation of a foetus in profile, and of the head foreshortened*. 
These evince only a certain accuracy, being too small to bring out the minor tegu- 
mentary characters. This remark applies in common to Sir Everard Home’s better 
executed figure’, copied by Frederick Cuvier’, to J. A. Albers’s foetus*, and to that of 
Alexander von Humboldt*®. Dr. Hermann Stannius° in his larger illustrations of the 
head of the animal, likewise fails to depict skin-texture, although the peculiarities 
of the muzzle are effectively rendered. Professor W. Vrolik’ expresses himself thus 
concerning his own folio plates:—‘‘I suppose that my representation is quite exact, 
and will give such a just idea of the animal that it is useless to enter into more 
particulars.” 
It is therefore in no hypercritical or self-satisfied spirit that I draw attention to 
pictorial defects in the able treatises of these revered preceptors of comparative 
anatomy, but rather in vindication of my reproducing work already done. Of the two 
specimens which have come under my scalpel, female and male, I was content to 
note that the former did not coincide in certain points with Vrolik’s delineation. 
Bethinking myself, however, on receipt of the latter, that a good photograph would be 
a desirable acquisition, I took such views as seemed best to afford evidence of the 
external affinities of this singular creature, and of the adaptability of its unwieldy 
carcass to propulsion through a watery element. In museums, it is customary to see 
1 Histoire Naturelle, tome xiii. plate 57. ? Lectures on Comp. Anat. vol. iv. pl. 55. 
3 Pl. 1 of the Hist. Nat. des Cétacés. Paris, 1836. 
* Tcones ad illustrandam Anat. Comp. fase. ii. tab. iv. Lipsiz, 1818. 
5 In Dr. Wiegmann’s ‘ Archiv fiir Naturgeschichte,’ 1838, p. 1, pls. 1 & 2. 
® Beitrige zur Kenntniss der amerikanischen Manatis von Hermann Stannius. Rostock, 1846. Tab. 1. 
figs. 1 & 2. 
7 « Bijdrage tot de Natuur- en Ontleedkundige Kennis van den Manatus americanus,” p. 58 (pls. 1 & 2), in 
the Memoirs of the Zool. Soc. Amsterdam, Natura Artis Magistra, 1852. For a copy of this folio monograph 
I am indebted to the liberality of J. Norrdhoem Heyt, Superintendent of the Zoological Gardens, Amsterdam. 
VOL. Vill.—PaRT 111. September, 1872. x 
