148 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



The extraordinary animal described by Steller, and which 

 he termed the Lamantin of the North, evidently appears, 

 even on the most superficial inspection, to be of a different 

 genus from the Manatus Americanus. The Baron has ac- 

 cordingly separated these animals under the name of Stel- 

 leres, derived from their first describer. 



Instead of the usual epidermis, this animal has a kind 

 of bark or crest an inch thick, composed of fibres or tubes, 

 perpendicular on the skin. This singular bark is so hard 

 that steel can penetrate it with great difficulty, and even 

 when it is cut it resembles ebony, as much in its compact 

 texture, as in its colour. These fibres are implanted in the 

 true skin by as many small tubes, so that when the bark is 

 torn away, the surface which attaches to the skin is rough 

 like shagreen, and the skin itself is reticulated by as many 

 little holes as there are tubercles in the bark. The external 

 surface of the bark, as might be expected, is unequal, 

 rugged, fissured longitudinally, and without hairs, for the 

 fibres, in fact, which compose it, are properly nothing but 

 hairs glued together, and furnishing a coat of mail. In a 

 word, this animal is completely armed with a substance 

 similar to that of the hoofs of the Horse or the Ox, or the 

 sole of the Elephant or Camel. This kind of armour is 

 observable in the Great Whale, but has never existed in 

 the genuine Lamantin. The upper lip is double, and so is 

 the lower, both divided into internal and external. 



The teeth are singular ; they are not simple, numerous, 

 and provided with roots as in the Lamantin. In each jaw, 

 on each side, is a composition-tooth, or rather plate, com- 

 parable to the palate of the Striped-Eagle, and which is 

 not fixed by roots, but is applied and united by an infinity 

 of vessels and nerves, which penetrate from the jaw into 

 this dentary palate by a quantity of little holes which make 

 its surface contiguous to the maxillary bone, altogether 

 porous or spungy. The same has been observed in the 



