CHAPTER XII 
ORDER OF SEA-COWS 
SIRENIA 
N certain warm and deep rivers of the tropics and sub- 
tropics, where water plants grow abundantly and all 
nature seems at peace, there live certain species of water 
mammals of strange form and habits. The manatees and 
dugongs differ so widely from even their nearest relatives in 
other Orders that it is not an easy matter to introduce them. 
The body of a Sirenian is like that of a long-bodied seal. 
The neck is very large, but extends straight forward, and ter- 
minates in a small, blunt-ended head with very small eyes 
and lips so extensible and mobile in the manipulation of food 
that the artist who tries to draw their moods and tenses soon 
finds himself quite bewildered. There are no incisor or canine 
teeth, and the serrated molars are intended only for the 
bruising and cutting of tender plants. 
There are front flippers of good dimensions, but they are 
well-nigh useless, and are about as shapely and graceful as a 
pair of old shoes. Apparently they are made for use in ges- 
turing rather than in work, for when the animal rests upon 
the ground, the flippers break squarely at two joints and are 
folded under the body, backs downward! There are times, 
however, when the flippers are of some use in feeding, in 
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