56 



upper one bristly ; flippers small, clawless ; tail-fin forked ; stomach 

 simple ; surface of skin rougli, folded, presenting a very rugged appear- 

 ance (hence the generic name) ; cervical vertebrae six. 



Ehttina Stelleei, Illiger. Steller's Manatee. 



Synonyms — Manate, seu Vacca Marina, Steller. 

 TrichecJius manatus, Miiller. 

 Trichechus horealis, Grmelin, Oken. 

 Bytina gigas, Gray, S. and "W. 1866, p. 365. 



Head small, oblong, obtuse ; body dark-coloured, almost hairless, 

 protected by a rugged covering, like the bark of an old oak, of which 

 the scarf-skin is composed of fibres or tubes of a similar substance to 

 the hoofs of cattle, closely packed, and perpendicular to and implanted 

 into the true skin ; the hide is an inch thick, and so tough as scarcely 

 to be cut with an axe ; but when cut; appears like ebony in the inside ; the 

 tail is black, ending in a stiff, crescent-shaped fin, fringed with long 

 fibrous matter like whalebone. 



These curious animals, but a little more than a century ago, frequented 

 in large herds the shoal waters of the bays and estuaries of the rivers of 

 Behring's Straits, and of Kamtschatka, but are now probably whoUy 

 extinct by the ruthless hand of the seamen who were in the habit of 

 wintering in these seas. 



During Behring's second expedition, in 1741, Steller, who accom- 

 panied him, was compelled by shipwreck to remain on Behring's Island 

 for ten months, and he estimated the then existing numbers to be so 

 large as sufficient to supply food for the whole population of Kamt- 

 schatka. Sauer, the companion of the same great navigator in his 

 third voyage, from 1789 to 1793, states that not a single specimen of 

 the kind could be seen, the last known individual having been killed 

 about twenty years previous to their visit. 



Steller, however, has fortunately left behind him a comprehensive 

 and reliable account of the habits and appearance of this singular being, 

 and zoologists are thus entirely indebted to him for all the records they 

 possess of a race, either eflectually driven away from its natural haunts 

 to more secluded homes, or, in accordance with the general belief, now 

 numbered among the things of the past. 



He relates, in addition to the characteristics given before, that they 

 were so tame as to suffer themselves to be handled ; if roughly treated, 

 they removed to the sea, but soon forgot their injuries and returned. 

 Sometimes they appeared ia families near one another, each of which 

 consisted of a male and female, one half grovra, and a cub ; these 

 families often unite and form vast droves. 



Their conjugal affection is most striking ; a male, after using all his 

 endeavours to relieve his mate, which had been struck, followed her to 

 the water's edge, whence no blows could force him to depart. As long 



