59.9, 55 M (67.5) 



Article IV.— A MANATEE COLLECTED BY THE AMERICAN 



MUSEUM CONGO EXPEDITION, WITH OBSERVATIONS 



ON THE RECENT MANATEES 1 



By Robert T. Hatt 



Plate XXVII; Text Figures 1 and 2 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction 533 



Nomenclature of the Manatees 534 



Criteria for the Classification of the Manatees 539 



The Distribution of Trichechus in the African Region 554 



Uncertain or Erroneous Reports of T. senegalensis 588 



Summary 560 



Bibliography 562 



Addenda Regarding Lake Chad Manatees ...... . . 566 



INTRODUCTION 



In the collections of the American Museum Congo Expedition there 

 is a single specimen of the African manatee which was secured by Mr. 

 Herbert Lang at Banana in August, 1915, just previous to his departure 

 from Africa after six years of collecting in the upper Congo basin. The 

 specimen, which is now preserved as a tanned skin, cleaned skeleton, and 

 palatal pads in alcohol (A. M. N. H. No. 53939), is that of an immature 

 individual. Photographs were made of this animal in the flesh, and three 

 of them are here reproduced (Plate XXVII). The date of collection is 

 not definitely established, and there is no record of measurements or of 

 sex, though the form of the pelvic bones indicates that the animal is a 

 female. 



The occurrence of the manatee in the lower Congo has long been 

 known, but no skeleton of a specimen from so far south has ever been 

 described or compared with those from the northern part of the range, 

 and for this reason the Congo Expedition manatee is of more than usual 

 interest. As manatees are highly variable mammals and specimens few, 

 any documented specimen is important, but this individual is particu- 

 larly so since it is the sole representative of its species in the otherwise 

 excellent American Museum collection of manatees. Because of the 

 progressive extermination of manatees and the total inadequacy of 

 material now in museums of the world, it is unlikely that we shall ever 

 have a very complete picture of the geographical variation of these 

 animals. As nearly as I have been able to ascertain, there are no speci- 



^cientific Results of the Congo Expedition. Mammalogy, No. 14. 



533 



