THE DUGONG. 401 



abounds in the southern parts of the China Seas, in the Straits of Banda 

 and Sunda, and extends northward into the southern half of the Red 

 Sea. It is always found near the coast where marine vegetation abounds : 

 it enters occasionally the mouths of rivers, but does not sojourn in the 

 rivers themselves : it does not come up on the land, and any dugongs 

 that may have been seen lying on the shore, have doubtless been left 

 high and dry by the receding tide. It rises to take breath once a 

 minute, showing its muzzle, or even half his body, and then it sinks 

 slowly and steadily back again into the water. 



The Dugongs are said by the Eastern fishers to live in pairs ; but this 

 is not generally true, as they have been seen in schools in the Indian 

 Ocean, as well as in the Red Sea. Their form is not well adapted for 

 moving through the water ; the snout is of an obtuse truncated charac- 

 ter ; and the tail is proportionately greater than in the Cetacea, its 

 breadth being rather more than one-third of the length of the body ; 

 they do not possess the blood-reservoirs which enable the seals to sur- 

 vive for a long time beneath the water ; and they are distinguished from 

 the Manatee by their flippers, which have no nails, while the two external 

 incisor teeth of the upper-jaw are elongated into a sort of tusks. 



They are caught either in nets, or by spears. The natives on the 

 Malay coast spear them at night, their presence being known by the 

 snuffling noise they utter. When caught, the tail is raised out of the 

 water, in which position the animal is quite powerless. The flesh is said 

 to be good eating, with a peculiar sweet taste, and its skin is manufac- 

 tured into various useful articles. 



The Dugongs of the Red Sea are regarded by the German naturalist 

 Ruppell as constituting a separate species, which he calls Halicorc tabcrna- 

 ciili, from a notion that the Jews used its hide for covering the tabernacle. 

 The Australian DUGONG, Halicorc Atistralis, is undoubtedly a distinct 

 species, and it is eagerly hunted for the sake of the oil which it yields, to 

 which are attributed the same virtues as to cod-liver oil. 



III.— GENUS RHYTINA. 



This genus is supposed to be now extinct. The celebrated naturalist 

 Steller was stranded, in November, 1741, on Behring Island, and spent 

 ten weary months there. He writes : " Along the whole coast of the 

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