29 



if all 's well, to Moreton Bay. I shall have much pleasure in writing 

 to you from the Gulf of Carpentaria, should I have anything of in- 

 terest to communicate. 



I remain, 



My dear Sir, 



Your obedient Servant, 

 John Gould, Esq. M. Elsev. 



February 24, 1857. 



Dr. Gray, F.R.S., in the Chair. 

 The following papers were read : — 



1. On the Skull of a Manatus from Western Africa. 

 By Dr. Balfour Baikie, F.K-.Geog.S. 



(Mammalia, PI. LI.) 



Until very recently but two species of the somewhat scarce genus 

 Manatus have been acknowledged by naturalists, viz. M. australis 

 (the M. Americanus of some writers) and M. Senegalensis. Of these 

 the former inhabits chiefly the mouths of the great rivers of the 

 north-eastern coast of South America, and the West Indies, while 

 the latter is confined to the tropical portions of the western coast of 

 Africa. Some writers, as Hernandes, mention a species found along 

 the coasts of Peru; but, if so, little or nothing is known of it or its 

 habits. Wyman has described as M. nasutus what is probably a 

 variety of M. Senegalensis, and Harlan as M. latirostris another 

 Manatee from the Gulf of Mexico, which, however, seems to be a 

 good species. 



Individual specimens of Manati have rarely been met with along 

 our own shores, as that recorded by Prof. Fleming* as having occurred 

 in the Shetland Islands in 1823 ; and I am in possession of tolerable 

 evidence, which I intend shortly to publish, that a similar animal 

 has made its appearance from time to time in Orkney, where it is 

 not unknown to fishermen. These are most probably stray mem- 

 bers of M. australis which have crossed the Atlantic, which belief 

 is, to some extent, supported by the fact that in Orkney they have 

 always been seen on the western or Atlantic side of the islands. 



The M. Senegalensis has been found in the Senegal, the Gambia, 

 and some rivers of Western Africa ; and Manati have also been 



* Vide Fleming in Edin. New Phil. Journal, and Baikie and Heddle's ' Historia 

 Naturalis Orcadensis.' 



