32 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



will fail to yield a specimen. It once abounded along the northern 

 and north-eastern coasts. Sixty years ago it was hunted by the white 

 man for sport ; fifty years ago a belief in the curative properties of 

 its oil was propagated, and sport and money-making were combined. 

 All the time and for ages before it was killed by the aborigines, and 

 eaten as a choice article of food. It would have been extinct, or 

 almost extinct, before now had not the Queensland Government 

 legislated to protect it during certain seasons. The Dugong wears a 

 weird, misshapen look when seen in the shallow coastal waters, or on 

 the grass-grown bottoms at the mouths of rivers entering the sea. 

 The absence of hind limbs creates an impression of deformity, an im- 

 pression which is deepened by the apparent helplessness of the frail 

 flippers. The animal bulks largely in comparison with the living 

 things ordinarily seen in its vicinity. It sometimes reaches 12 ft. or 

 16 ft. in length, and weighs between 10 and 12 cwt. Eight or ten 

 feet is a common size, and 4 to 5 cwt. a medium weight. Its move- 

 ments are laboured and sluggish. It crushes the short reeds with its 

 broad molars. In the male the incisors become the formidable tusks. 

 The blacks and some whites tell stories of the Dugong climbing on to 

 the land and browsing along river-banks in the moonlight. Uncanny 

 incidents attach to these legends, but though seemingly corroborative 

 details are forthcoming, the stories must remain in the category of 

 myths. The sluggish beasts have quite enough to do to make a living 

 in their native element without adventuring on the mainland or on 

 dry land anywhere. And if they were set down any distance from 

 the water their frail flippers would be weak supports for the journey 

 back. In the stories, however, there is sometimes an element of 

 romance. The affection of the female Dugong for its young is raised 

 by some to the rank of a special virtue. Many examples of what looks 

 like affection are certainly forthcoming, but as often as not the cow 

 and bull Dugong make off when danger threatens, leaving the calf to 

 extricate itself as best it can. Seldom do they exhibit any of the 

 blind fury of the mother Whale in similar circumstances. The mother 

 Dugong may for a little time hang about well out of reach of harm in 

 expectation that the calf will come along, but the wound of severance 

 heals quickly, and browsing is renewed with freshened appetite. 

 Occasions occur when mother and calf appear inseparable, the mother 

 staying alongside the harpooned calf till she also has been har- 

 pooned. But such incidents are not frequent, and when they occur 

 there are grounds for attributing the mother's conduct to dulness of 

 apprehension rather than to affection. There are authenticated cases, 

 however, of a mother following a captured calf a long distance, and 



