28 



March 27th, 1838. 

 William Yarrell, Esq., in the Chair. 



A Dugong preserved in spirit having been presented to the Mu- 

 seum by Alexander John Kerr, Esq., of Penang, Mr. Ovi'en com- 

 municated to the meeting some notes descriptive of the principal 

 viscera in this remarkable aquatic mammal, and a statement of the 

 relative proportions exhibited by its several parts, in comparison with 

 the dimensions of a Dugong published by Sir Stamford Raffles in 

 the Phil. Trans., 1820, and of t^vo other specimens wliich Mr. Owen 

 had on previous occasions examined in the Society's collection. 



Mr. Owen remarks, that " The external form of the Dugong is 

 not so well calculated for moving rapidly through the water as that 

 of the Dolphin and other carnivorous Cetacea, which subsist by a per- 

 petual pursuit of living animals. In these the snout is conical, and 

 peculiarly elongated, and in some, as the Delphinus Gangeticus, the 

 jaws are produced to an extreme length, so as to give them every 

 advantage in seizing their swift and slippery prey ; whilst, in the 

 herbivorous Dugong, the snout is as remarkable for its obtuse, trun- 

 cate character;' — a form, however, which is equally advantageous to 

 it, and well adapted to its habits of browzing upon the algas and 

 fuci which grow upon the submarine rocks of the Indian seas. 



" As, from the fixed nature of the Dugong's food, the motions 

 of the animal during the time of feeding must relate more imme- 

 diately to the necessity of coming to the surface to respire, its tail, 

 the principal locomotive organ of ascent and descent, is propor- 

 tionally greater than in the true Cetacea, its breadth being rather 

 more than one-third the length of the whole bod)^. 



" But the most important external differences are seen in the 

 presence of the memlrana nictitans, in the anterior position of the 

 nostrils, and in the situation of the mammee, which are pectoral, or 

 rather axillary, being situated just behind the roots of the flippers; 

 in the female specimen examined their base was about the size of a 

 shilling, and they projected about half an inch from the surface. 



" A considerable ridge extends along the middle of the upper sur- 

 face of the posterior part of the back, which is continued upon and 

 terminates in the tail. 



" The viscera'y/eve detached from one another, and from their 

 natural connexions, in the same way in Mr. Kerr's as in the other 

 specimens transmitted to the Society, so as to disable me from as- 

 certaining their several relative positions. It may be observed, that 

 if this were done merely with a view to their preservation, it was un- 

 necessary ; laying open the cavity of the uhdomen, with the addi- 

 tion of opening the stomach and the intestinal canal in a few places. 



