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THE SEA COWS. 



THE ORDER SIRENIA — MERMAIDS — THE FAMILY MANATID.'E — THE MANATES OF AMERICA — THEIR 

 VORACITY AND LAZINESS — MODES OF CAPTURE — TAME SPECIMENS — THE FLORIDA MANATEA — 

 THE AFRICAN LAMANTIN — THE EASTERN DUGONG — THE AUSTRALIAN DUGONG — THE NORTH- 

 ERN SEA COWS — STELLER'S DESCRIPTION — EXTINCT SINCE 1 768. 



THE Sirenia, or Sea Cows, as they are commonly called, are 

 regarded by some authorities as intermediate between the 

 Eared Seals and the Whales, while others consider them as 

 constituting a sub-family of Cetacea. But many parts of their structure 

 exhibit so close an alliance with the thick-skinned, or pachydermatous 

 mammalia, that modern investigators place them in a separate order, 

 preceding immediately the orders which are sometimes united under 

 the common appellation Pachydermata. 



The name of Sirenia, which is given to this group of animals, is 

 chiefly owing to the peculiar form and habits of the Dugong, which has 

 a curious custom of swimming with its head and neck above the surface 

 of the water, so that it bears some grotesque resemblance to the human 

 form, and might have given rise to the poetical tales of mermaids and 

 sirens which have prevailed in the literature of all Eastern countries. 

 When the female Dugong is nursing her child, she carries it in one arm, 

 and takes care to keep the head of her offspring, as well as her own, 

 above the surface of the water, and thus presents a strangely human 

 aspect. If alarmed, she immediately dives below the waves, and flinging 

 her fish-like tail into the air, corresponds in no inadequate degree with 

 the popular notions of mermaid form. 



The Sea Cows are herbivorous animals, living on the coasts or in the 

 great rivers of several parts of the globe. The nostrils are placed at the 

 extremity of the muzzle, and are never used as blow-holes. They possess 



