304 



TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



Instead of seeking to seduce unwary voyagers to visit its 

 home beneath the waves, in order there to devour them, 

 the dugong (for that is the name of this sort of mermaid) 

 browses peacefully on seaweed, and is as harmless as it is 

 curious. 



It is a creature which, as ordinarily met with, is about 

 eight feet long. Only a faintly marked neck is visible 

 between the head and the trunk, which tapers gra- 

 dually backward to end in a horizontally flattened tail. 

 Unlike the seals and sea bears, the dugong has no trace 

 of any hind limb, and has only a pair of short paddle- 

 shaped fore-limbs, the five digits of which are enclosed 



Fig. 78. 



THE DUGONG. 



in a common fold of skin, and are not therefore visible 

 externally. They have no nails. Deep in the body of 

 the animal are small bones which are the rudiments of 

 that bony structure (called the pelvis) to which our 

 thigh bones are articulated. But there is no rudiment 

 representing the thigh bone itself. 



The skin of the body is very thick, rough, and almost 

 naked, but with a few hairs. Some hairs extend inside 

 the cheek, and there are stray bristles on the lips. The 

 eyes are small, there are no external ears, and the 

 nostrils can be closed, having each a valvular external 

 aperture. 



