MAMMALIA. BRUTA. Walrus. 119 



each fide in the upper jaw, and three in the lower ; thefe laft are diftant from the tulks, and are 

 broader than thofe of the Morfe : The female has two teats on the bread:. The chin has a briftly 

 beard; the ears areihort; the feet broad; and the legs fo fhort that the belly trails on the ground. 

 When full grown, the animal is fix ells in length ; the male being rather larger than the female, 

 which has breafts like a woman : It feeds on a green fea mofs, or weed, which grows near the fhore. 

 The figure, manners, and hiftory, of this animal, are very imperfectly known ; but we are informed 

 that its flefh. eats like beef. 



3. Fifh- tailed Walrus. — 3. Trichechm Manatus. 2. 

 Has no tufks, and no hind feet. Art. gen. 79. fyn. 107.. 



Of this fpecies the following varieties are noticed by Zoological writers. 



a. Lamantin. — 2. a. Trich. Manatus aujlralis.. 



Is hairy; having three toes, provided with claws, on the fore paws. 



Manatus. Rondel, pifc. 490. Gefn. pifc. 213. Hern. mex. 323. BrhT. quad. 49. Cluf. exot, 

 133. Aldr. pifc. 728. Raj. quad. 193. — Lamantin.- Sm.-Buff. vii. 374. pi. ccli. — Round-tailed 

 Manati. Penn. hift. of quad. n. 391. - 



Inhabits the African and American feas, particularly near the mouths of rivers, which they fre- 

 quently enter, feldom going far from the fhore. The Lamantin varies in fize from eight to feven- 

 teen feet long, is fix or feven in circumference, and from five hundred to eight hundred pounds 

 weight : The fkin is of a dark or black alh colour ; there are nine fquare fhaped grinders on each 

 fide in each jaw, which are covered with a glafTy crult of ename! ; the back bone has fifty joints, or 

 vertebrae : It is a thick, clumfy animal, having no properly diftincl neck, as the body continues al- 

 moft of an equal thicknefs to the head, which is fomewhat of a conical fhape, with a cylindrical muz- 

 zle and thick flefhy lips, the upper one hanging down at the fides like the- chops of a hound ; the 

 eyes are very fmall, not larger than a pea; the orifices leading to the internal ear are exceedingly 

 minute, and there are no external ears ; the feet are placed at the fhoulders, and confift of three ar- 

 ticulations, the foremoit being flat, having five complete toesbeneath the fkin, hardly decernible on 

 the outfide, and three or four flat rounded nails externally of a Ihinning reddiih brown colour ; the 

 rail is long, horizontal, broad, flat, and rounded at the end, thick in the middle, and thinner at the - 

 edges : The female has two teats, placed near the aruwpits. This animal never comes on fhore, but 

 frequents the mouths of large rivers, brouzing on the grafs which grows clofe to the water. There 

 feems to be two varieties, differing considerably in fize: The larger frequents the feas near the mouths - 

 of large rivers; and the fmaller is found higher up the fame rivers, and in inland frefh. water lakes, 

 but never goes to the fea. 



We are told that this animal is often tamed by the native inhabitants of America, and that it de- 

 lights in mufic ; hence, according to fome authors, it is probably the Delphinus, or Dolphin, of. the". 

 ancients ; . and fome believe, that what has been written concerning .Mermaids and Sirens muft be re- 

 ferred to this animal. It has. a voracious appetite, and is perpetually eating: It is monocamious, or 

 lives in families of one male, one female, a half grown, and a very fmall young one ; copulates in the 

 fpring, the female at firft flying in various playful circles, and then throwing herfelf on her back to 

 receive the. male : When pasturing on the aquatic plants, the back is often above water ; and, as the 



