296 The Sirenia. [ May, 
lower edge was under water, this was covered with wisps of straw 
so as to bear some resemblance to the sloping bank of a stream 
covered with sea-weed left by the ebbing tide. As the animal did 
not seem disposed to put even its nose on the shelf, its food was 
for some nights deposited there, just above the water line, with 
the result that it did not show the slightest disposition to help 
itself, until after some hours the grass was thrown into the tank, 
when it at once fed. It never manifested the least trace of a 
desire to raise itself out of the water, and certainly no structure 
could be worse adapted to move on land than the awkward bulky 
body and the weak flippers of the manatee. 
The animal was never in good condition from the earliest 
period of its confinement, and was very apt to become costive, 
which was always relieved by throwing some soft river mud into 
the tank, which it swallowed with excellent effect. It appeared 
to be very fond of mud, and was always more lively when the 
water was discolored by heavy rains than at any other time. In 
general, through the day time it rested on the bottom of the 
tank, on its chin and the end of its tail, with the body slightly 
arched. Every two and a half minutes on an average, using its 
tail as a pivot, it raised its head to the surface by the action of its 
fore flippers, just so that its nostrils appeared above the water, and 
after taking breath sank at once to its former position at the bot- 
tom. Although sluggish and inactive in habit, the animal was 
not devoid of intelligence; it learned to recognize its keeper, and 
soon appeared to understand that no harm was intended when 
the water was drawn off from the tank for the purpose of cleaning. 
At such times, after the first few days, it lay perfectly quiet on its 
side, and allowed the keeper to sweep around and over it without 
making the least disturbance. 
The animal lived a quiet unruffled existence, apparently as 
happy in its tank in a corner of the Carnivora House as it could 
have been in its natural home. Everything was done for it that 
it apparently could desire—a palace of glass kept clean without 
the least trouble to itself, clean water made brackish as that of its 
native haunts by a solution of marine salt, and carefully watched 
by the aid of a thermometer lest the cold air of the north shoul 
be too trying for a constitution accustomed to the warmth of the 
equator; plenty of that food which it selected as being best 
adapted to its wants, and in fact all that the most assiduous care 
= x4 
anin e 
