PERFECT SKELETON OF RHTTINA GIGAS. 



459 



The pelvis in the Sirenia is ex- 

 ceedingly rudimentary, consisting of 

 a pair of small bones suspended at 

 some distance below the vertebral 

 column. (These have not been ob- 

 served in Kfiytina.) There is no 

 trace of any hind limb ; but a rudi- 

 mentary femur has been noticed in 

 another extinct form of Sirenian 

 {HalWierimri) . 



Ehytina: The ITead.—The head 

 in Rhytina is small in proportion to 

 the long and very thick body. The 

 bones of the skull are massive, but 

 very loosely connected together. 



Sir Eichard Owen observes that 

 this character of the skull, taken in 

 connexion with the density of the 

 bony skeleton, and the absence of 

 cavities * in the bones themselves, 

 reminds one of the skeleton of the 

 Eeptilia (Owen, " On the Dugong," 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1838, pp. 28-45). 



The nasal bones are quite rudi- 

 mentary ; the maxillary border is 

 narrow and straight ; the premaxil- 

 lary bones, forming the rostral por- 

 tion of the skull, are long and con- 

 siderably developed in front, forming 

 the strongly curved border of the 

 nasal opening, and projecting with 

 a downward curve (as in Hcdicore, 

 but less acute), its upper and outer 

 contour being very convex, and the 

 lower and inner palatal surface 

 being concave. 



The zygomatic arch is strongly 

 developed and much curved. The 

 occipital portion of the skull is the 



by tlie earlier Toyagers, both in the East 

 and West Indies and on the coasts of 

 Africa, should hare originated the legends 

 of Mermaids and Sirens, seems at first 

 sight incredible ; but art was then in 

 its infancy in this country, and doubtless 

 the engraver, who pourtrayed at seco7id 

 hand the features of the " sea-siren," had 

 but little assistance in his delineation 

 from the narrator. 



* Ornithopsis Seeleyi, Hulke, was not 

 then discovered. 





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