THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
Dugong is the Malay name of the sea cow of the Old World, 
found in the Red Sea, among the East Indies, and on Aus- 
tralian coasts. It is thus marine in its nature, but is 
inclined to gather near the shore in herds, which 
formerly sometimes numbered hundreds, and browses on the 
alge which grow on submarine rocks in shallow places. The 
mother’s affectionate care of her offspring, which she nurses 
embraced to her bosom as she stands upright in the 
water, is proverbial in the East; and it has long been believed 
that it furnished the original model of our mermaids; but 
the mermaid was a popular notion in the Orient long before 
Westerners knew anything about the dugong. These ani- 
mals, although formerly much hunted for the sake of their oil- 
blubber, are still extremely numerous in the vast grassy bays 
of the Queensland coast; but elsewhere dugongs are now rare. 
Prominent distinguishing features of the dugongs are the 
sudden downward bending of the overhanging upper jaw in 
the male, and its two strong incisor tusks. 
Tropical America has a sirenian quite different both in 
structure and habits. Instead of being almost black it is dark 
gray, and its skin is finely wrinkled and sparsely 
haired, especially about the head; the tail is not 
forked but rounded, and the flippers may bear small fin- 
ger nails. Another remarkable fact is that instead of a few 
teeth as in the dugong, or none at all as in the rhytina, the 
manatee has many, which apparently go on increasing indefi- 
nitely during life. As many as twenty molar teeth have been 
counted in one half of the jaw, and they may get still 
more numerous. ‘‘This large number of grinding teeth 
is obviously suggestive of the whales, with which the Sirenia 
are believed by some to be allied. It is at least a remark- 
able coincidence that these two aquatic groups of mammals 
should both have assumed the same indefinite tooth for- 
mula. ... The animal is assisted in feeding by a curious 
402 
Dugong. 
Manatee. 
