DR. J. MURIE ON THE FORM AND STRUCTURE OF THE MANATEE. 191 
entail my entering on data which I reserve for another communication. Brandt forms 
one family, Manatide, containing the genus Manatus, and a second, Halicoride, with 
three genera, Halitherium, Halicore, and fthytina. Excluding Halitherium, not noted 
by him, Dr. Gray’ ranges the others under the family Manatide. Professor Kaup’s’” 
generalizations I reserve till I treat of Halitherium. 
I am aware I tread on tender ground, and may evoke the contumely of those who 
see every group with noonday light, clear and circumscribed, when with others I suggest 
demolition of boundary lines by upraising past forms to take their place in the alphabet 
of Zoology. But, however beneficial classification may be to the study of animals, there 
is a still higher aim when we would discard pretension to system, and strive by patient 
research to fathom the intricacies of creative organization. 
The more important additions to the anatomy of the Manatee contained in this 
memoir are:—accurate representations of its figure; fresh views of exterior moot 
points; the peculiar nature of the epidermis; structure of the hairs and bristles ; the 
vertebral irregularities, which cervical is the one missing ? the skull’s interior, its develop- 
ment ; the ligamentous system; entire myology, the limb-muscles being fully developed ; 
the homologies of the mouth-structures with reference to baleen &c.; revision and 
illustrations of the digestive organs and associated glands; new sectional views of the 
body, with organs in position; reexamination and depicting of the remarkable vascular 
distribution ; parts connected with respiration and vocalization; the brain, not before 
known ; elucidation of the nerves; the nasal passages and the eye; illustration of the 
female generative parts and lumbo-pelvic regions. 
XII. Appitionat Nore. 
The Zoological Society of London is so much indebted to its correspondents and other 
kind friends, that I cannot pass in silence the efforts made in this case to ensure safe 
transmission of what has long been a desideratum. The exhibition of a live specimen 
of the order Sirenia (a veritable mermaid) in the Regent’s-Park collection would, if 
achieved, form one of the most sensational triumphs incident to the introduction of 
rare and comparatively unknown animals into Britain. But the chapter of travelling- 
accidents is a tangled one. Safe transport of living large marine animals, even under 
the most favourable circumstances, is a task requiring sound judgment and much tact. 
Moreover obstacles increase proportionally where the clime is different, the distance 
great, or the place of capture far removed from ready mechanical appliances and 
abundant nianual assistance. In the present instance it may be affirmed that success 
in a most difficult undertaking was twice well nigh accomplished. 
After many endeavours and promises of reward, Mr. George Latimer. of Porto Rico, 
in 1866 had the good fortune to obtain from some fishermen a young female Manatee 
which they had caught in one of the neighbouring “ corals.” The natives, it seems, 
* B. M. Cat. of Seals and Whales. ? Beitrige, d. urweltlichen Siugethiere, 1855. 
VOL. Vill.—ParT ul. September, 1872. 2F 
