THE MANATEES: GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 115 



A writer in the journal "Forest and Stream," of June 11, 1874, under the heading "The 

 Manatee at Saint Augustine, Fla.," quotes from the Saint Augustine "Press," as follows: 



"The Manatee continues her domicile in Bar Creek (Saint Augustine). Fishermen have again 

 reported it and citizens are anxious to go after it. . . . There are also vague rumors of a very 

 large animal of the same species having been seen roaming about a place on tlic North Kiver called 

 Oleander Town. If so, the one is probably the dam and the other the calf that have become sep- 

 arated. It is also probable that during some of the heavy blows along the coast between here and 

 Indian Eiver some herd of these animals has become dispersed and these two may have wandered 

 into our harbor. It will be remembered that two or three years ago a very large one was seen in 

 this harbor, which came up to the water-battery of the fort, where it remained until pelted by the 

 boys. Fishermen report them as having been frequently seen in the harbor." 



Mr. C. J. Maynard, who has been much in Florida, has recorded some valuable notes on the 

 distribution of the Florida Manatee. He writes: " This singular animal is found in large numbers 

 about the inlets of Indian Eiver, and Capt. Dummett informs me that heiias captured specimens 

 as far north as his place, which is within five miles of the head of the river. I have been informed 

 by creditable authorities that it is remarkably abundant upon the western coast in the various 

 rivers and creeks which abound between Tampa Bay and Cape Sable. I have never seen it in 

 Mosquito or Halifax Lagoons, and am confident that it does not occur there. This species is said 

 to feed upon the leaves of the mangrove during the night." ^ 



Dr. von Frantzius stated some years ago, in an essay on the mammals of Costa Kica, that 

 the Florida Manatee was the only species found, in that country. He writes as follows : " If we 

 recognize M. latirostris as a separate species; we shall be able to say that only this species is found 

 on the coast of Costa Eica."^ It is evident, however, that he has confounded the two species, for a 

 few lines further on he says: "Nearly all the museum specimens arriving in Europe in later years 

 come from Surinam and belong to the species known as M. latirostris; so far as I know no speci- 

 mens from the coast of Costa EiCa or from Greytown have ever been sent to Europe. I had but 

 one opportunity of seeing the Manatees on the shores of the Sarapiqui, and that at a distance."" 



This statement is in part erroneous ; a large proportion of the different figures of specimen* 

 in European museums are those of the southern form, Triohechus manatus. 



DisTBiBUTiON OP THE SouTH AMERICAN MANATEE. — The South American Manatee is^ 

 most abundant in the northern part of that continent and in Central America. Its range extends- 

 much farther north, I believe, than is generally supposed. A skull in the National Museum,, 

 belonging undoubtedly to this species, was received from Texas in 1855. It would seem that the 

 animal must occur in some abundance along the Mexican coast. Its range extends on the south at 

 least as far as the Saint Matthew's Eiver in ferazil.^ Manatees are found in nearly all the rivers 

 of northern South America, particularly in the Amazon and its tributaries, and in the Orinoco. 

 Those which are found in the upper water-courses, as has been already stated, are by some regarded 

 as distinct, and by others as identical with those of the lower regions and the sea. 



The Manatee of the West Indies. — A species of Manatee occurs more or less abundantly, 

 in the West Indies, particularly about Cuba, San Domingo, and Porto Eico, but whether it is- 

 the Florida or South American species seems not to have been ascertained. It is supposably^. 

 however, the Florida Manatee. 



' MAYNARDy C. J. : Cat. Mammals of Florida. Ex. Bull. Essex Institute, iv, 9-10, 1872, pp. 8-9. 

 ' Von Frantzius : Sangethiere Costa Ricjis, in Wiegmann's Arohiv, xxxv, Jabrg. i, pp. 304-307. 

 ' Loo. olt. 

 * Prince Maximilian. 



