WHALE-TAILED MANATI. 
IF EST! HQT ADS |) Gorm us, AGH. 
Hift. Quad. N° 390. 
Morfkaia Korowa, Ruforum. Nov. Com. Petrop. ii. 294. 
Vaches Marines, Defer. Kamifchatka, 446, 
ANATI. With a fmall oblong fquarifh head, hanging down : 
mouth fmall: lips doubled, forming an outward and inward 
lip: about the junction of the jaws a fet of white tubular briftles, as 
thick as a pigeon’s quil, which ferve as ftrainers to permit the run- 
ning out of the water, and to retain the food: the lips covered with 
ftrong briftles, which ferve inftead of teeth to crop the {trong roots 
of marine plants: no teeth, but in each jaw a flat white oblong bone 
with an undulated furface, which being placed above and below, 
performs the ufe of grinders to comminute the food. 
Noftrils placed at the end of the nofe, and lined with briftles: no 
ears, Only in their place a {mall orifice. 
Eyes very fmall, not larger than thofe of a Sheep, hardly vifible 
through the little round holes in the fkin; the irides black; the 
pupil livid: tongue pointed and fmall. 
The whole animal is of great deformity: the neck thick, and its 
union with the head fcarcely difcernible: the two feet, or rather 
fins, are fixed near the fhoulders; are only twénty-fix inches long ; 
are deftitute of toes, or nails, but terminate in a fort of hoof, concave 
beneath, lined with briftles, and fitted for digging in fand. 
The outward fkin is black, rugged, and knotty, like the bark of an 
aged oak: without any hair; an inch thick, and fo hard as fcarcely 
to be cut with an ax; and when cut, appears in the infide like ebony. 
From the nape to the tail it is marked with circular wrinkles rifing 
into knots, and fharp points on the fide. This fkin covers the whole 
Ava body 
177 
MANATI, 
S81. WHae- 
TAILED. 
