68 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. 



Pier-case fed upon its flesh. It was described by Steller, a German 

 29 (30). naturalist in the Russian service in 1751, and a copy of his 



drawing of the living animal is 

 fixed on the Pillar between Pier- 

 cases 20 and 21. This massive 

 creature sometimes attained a length 

 of 25 feet ; and a nearly complete 

 skeleton of an individual about 

 ^ 20 feet long (Fig. 64) is mounted, 

 A with other remains, in a large case 

 ^ marked Y. Bhytina was destitute of 

 •9 teeth, which were replaced by cor- 

 m rugated, horny plates; it also appears 

 o to have lacked ordinary hands. Its 

 bones occur in the peat-bogs and 

 swamps of the islands round which 

 it lived, and they are discovered by 

 prodding the soft ground with an 

 > iron bar which strikes them. 

 | Halitherium from the Oligocene 



2, and Lower Miocene of Europe, is 

 ; . essentially a manatee, but it lacks 

 •§ the apparently unlimited supply of 

 ,«• grinding teeth which characterise 

 « the surviving animal. It also 

 -g exhibits a less rudimentary pelvis 

 't, than any other known Sirenian, 

 "2 with a small bone representing 

 § the femur. A restored model of 

 a skeleton of Halitherium schinzi 

 about 8 feet long (Fig. 65) from 

 the Oligocene of Hesse-Darmstadt, 

 is mounted in Case V; and there 

 are numerous actual remains of this 

 species from the same locality in 

 the collection. There is also an 

 imperfect skull, named Halitherium 

 canhami, from the Eed Crag of 

 Suffolk (see Table-case 1a.). Felsi- 

 notherium is a closely similar animal 

 from Northern Italy. 

 ^^ter-oase >| Prorastomus is another extinct 



"■' [ ' 8 genus known only with certainty 



by the unique skull from an early 



