MAN ATI 1 39 



upper tusks. The nostrils, as in the other members of the group, are placed at the 

 apex of the muzzle, and provided with flaps by means of which they can be closed 

 at will. The lips are altogether peculiar in structure, the upper one being cleft in 

 the middle line, and its two halves working against one another. The name manati 

 refers to the hand-like action of the flippers when the female is supporting herself 

 nearly upright in the water and pressing her offspring to her breast. Sea-cows 

 rarely, if ever, come completely out of the water. 



Certain evidence was published in 1912 tending to show that the ancestors 

 of sea-cows had scaly hides, resembling in this respect the early cetaceans, although 

 it does not appear that the scales were underlain by plates of bone. 



