460 MISS A. CRANE ON THE MANATEE. [Apr. 5, 



was empty. With jaws and tail-fin pressed closely to the ground, 

 the body of the animal becomes arched, and is moved by a violent 

 lateral effort, aided, and slightly supported, by the fore paddles, which 

 are stretched out in a hne with the mouth. But the effect of these 

 very laboured efforts was not commensurate with their violence ; iu 

 fact their relation to active locomotion may be compared to those 

 of a man lying prone with fettered feet and elbows tied to side. 

 Nor does the Manatee seem at all at ease out of water, as he lies 

 apparently oppressed with his own bulk, while he invariably makes 

 off to the deepest corner of his tank directly the water is readmitted. 

 One point may be regarded as definitely settled. Notwithstanding 

 the predilection they have evinced for land vegetables, they never 

 feed out of water. Food has been repeatedly offered them ; but it 

 always remains untouched, although readily devoured when the 

 influx of water set the leaves floating on the surface. Although it is 

 possible that the animals can get out of water and remain so for a short 

 period, as they progress so slowly and do not feed out of water, it 

 seems as though they must be acquitted of the garden-depredations 

 and prolonged wanderings from their native element with which they 

 have been credited. 



In the spring of the year 1880 the female Manatee died, after seven 

 months' existence in the Aquarium. The history of the male in the 

 subsequent interval may be epitomized in the words lie still and grow 

 fat. He evinced no grief at the loss of his companion. His fifteen 

 months' life in the institution may be taken as refuting a recent 

 statement by a well-known naturalist in the columns of ' Land and 

 Water,' that these animals "will not feed and cannot be kept in 

 captivity." As his present length (Dec. 1880) is five feet two inches, 

 and his maximum girth four feet ten inches, he has increased four 

 inches in length and ten inches in bulk in the thirteen months that 

 have elapsed between the two measurements. It is evident, therefore, 

 that he thrives well on the sliced roots of swede turnips and carrots 

 which have of late constituted his chief nourishment. Beyond 

 these scanty facts, I have nothing further to record concerning the 

 uneventful life-history in captivity of these silent and individually 

 uninteresting animals. 



In conclusion I would tender my best thanks to Mr. Thomas 

 Davidson, F.R.S., for his kindness in furnishing me with a sketch 

 from nature of the animal, and to Mr. A. Lawler, resident naturalist 

 at the Aquarium, for information courteously afforded. 



P.S. — The male died on February 8, 1881, having been seventeen 

 months all but five days in the tank. It measured 5 feet 2 inches 

 in length, having grown 4 inches during its ca[itivity. It appears 

 to have suffered from the exceptionally severe weather of the latter 

 part of January ; but the body, which was presented by the Directors 

 to the Museum of the College of Surgeons, was iu good condition, 

 and showed no evidence of disease in any of the viscera. 



