steller's account of the sea cow. 195 



sea otter, but in size tbey were much larger thau these. They were 2 inches long 

 and li inches wide on the surface, and they were pyramidal in form toward the 

 interior. Each one of these lobules [renunculi) is provided with an urethra, papillae, 

 and artery of its own. The urethras form six larger principal branches, and at last 

 carry down the urine through one canal to the urinary bladder. But the pelvis is 

 like an elephant's. 



I overlooked the suprarenal capsules [cajisulae atribilariae), and also the spleen, 

 and likewise the internal organs of generation, and many other things which occurred 

 to me in order only when I had no longer time nor opportunity for making full obser- 

 vations. 



BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE BONES. 



As to the bones of the manatee, the bones of the head in respect to strength and 

 firmness are like those of a horse, but in respect to size and thickness they surpass 

 the bones of all animals of the land. 



The bones of the head taken together are not larger than a horse's head, nor are 

 they very different in respect to form and articulation. 



The cranium is anteriorly entire, without any suture, extending toward the nasal 

 bones' in two hard processes, and joining the nasal and maxillary bones by an 

 arthrodia, while the nasals join the maxillaries by ginglimus. The nasal bones meet 

 in a rough suture. The temporal bone joins the cranium by suture, but the occipital 

 by coalescence, being very hard and almost like rock. The inferior maxillary in 

 adults consists of one bone, in calves of two. 



The head from the nares to the occiput is 27 inches long, and at the occiput 13J 

 inches wide.^ 



There are sixty vertebrae in all: Six in the neck, nineteen in the back, and 

 thirty-five in the tall. 



There are five pairs of true ribs and twelve of false. 



The body of the vertebrae of the neck is narrow, in general structure like the 

 vertebrae of the horse's neck. How much they differ in certain special features I will 

 not indicate, as I have no books nor a horse's skeleton, nor should I trust my memory 

 or imagination. 



The spines of the dorsal vertebrae are sharp and broad, and in lean animals, as 

 there is no thick cuticle or thick adipose tissue in the way, they are perfectly visible. 



The vertebrae of the back in the region of the stomach and liver are ridged on 

 the inside, but all the rest are rounded and lack this sharpened prominence. 



The vertebrae of the tail have each four processes; the lateral processes are long 

 and broad; the superior process is like the lateral process in width but is shorter; and 

 the inferior processes (chevrons) are single bones like the Greek lambda in shape, 

 and are fastened to the body of the vertebrae by a cord and held firmly with very 

 strong ligaments. All the vertebrae are joined together longitudinally by a great 

 number of very strong, broad tendons, and are everywhere so covered up that because 

 of them the bones can not be seen. 



The five pairs of true ribs are joined to the sternum with cartilage. Both the 

 true and the false ribs are all solid and very heavy and thick. 



1 Really the frontals. — ^Ed. ^ Given in the previous table as 10^. — Ed. 



