404 SIRENIA. 



which Steller was engaged, whalers and adventurers of all kinds flocked 

 to Behring Island, and commenced such a terrible butchery among the 

 defenceless creatures, that not a single specimen of the animal, can now 

 be discovered. All attempts have been in vain to recover even a frag- 

 ment of the Sea-cow of Steller. Every ship which set sail for the Island 

 of Behring was requested to keep a look-out for them, but no news was 

 ever brought back. Steller regarded this Sea-cow as identical with the 

 Lamantin of Hernandez. It is clear, from his description, that the 

 animal seen by him was a creature perfectly different from any of the 

 Sirenia mentioned by earlier writers. It is well for science that Steller 

 was among the unfortunate voyagers who were shipwrecked on Behring 

 Island, and still more fortunate that he left so perfect a description of his 

 discovery. His narrative was first published in 1749, at St. Petersburg, 

 after his death. The animal seems not to have been abundant even 

 at the time of Steller's voyage, and our destructive race, without giving 

 naturalists an opportunity of unraveling its structure, have swept it 

 from its native shores, and well-nigh obliterated all traces of its 

 existence. 



This sea-cow deservedly bears the name of the naturalist who dis- 

 covered it, and is called Rhytina Stelleri ; it has, however, been 

 described under the generic appellations of Manatus and Tricheckus, 

 while in the British Museum Catalogue of Cetacea it is alluded to under 

 the name of Rhytina gigas. Like the Dodo and the Great Auk, Steller's 

 Sea-cow is one of the animals which civilized man has destroyed in the 

 mere wantonness of power. 



