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1878. | The Sirenia. 297 
could suggest and procure, but liberty is liberty, and the waters 
of the Schuylkill were not those of its native Orinoko, and so 
after two days of extreme torpor and indisposition to eat, she 
was found on the morning of September 5th, resting on the bot- 
tom of the tank, having died as she had lived, peacefully, and 
with no more exertion than could by any possibility be avoided. 
A careful post mortem examination revealed the presence of a 
large quantity of a fatty deposit about the region of the heart, 
exactly as had been the case in two specimens. which had pre- 
viously been kept in the Garden, and as it does not seem possible 
that accommodations more in accord with the native surroundings 
of the animal could be given in confinement and in so different 
a climate, or that the attempt could be made at a more favorable 
season of the year, it appears almost certain that the speedy death 
of these animals was owing to insuperable obstacles in the way 
of acclimating the species here. It is. possible that the more 
- northern member of the group, M. latirostris, which occasionally 
experiences a touch of frost in the St. Augustine river in Florida, 
and is presumably more hardy than those from more southern 
regions, might be better adapted to a residence in this latitude, 
but I do not know that the opportunity has ever been fully pre- 
sented for the experiment. A pair of this species was at the 
. Garden for some days in the month of August, 1876, but as the 
Society did not care to pay the large price demanded for them, 
they were removed by their owner to one of the Centennial side 
shows, where they were destroyed by a fire before they had been 
here long enough to give any indications as to how they were 
going to adapt themselves to the climate. 
The dugongs grow to a larger size than the manatees, Ha/icore 
dugong being sometimes twenty feet long; their general appear- 
ance is similar, the tail, however, instead of being rounded is 
forked, and their color is bluish on the back, running into dirty 
white beneath. The alveolar process of the pre-maxillary bone is 
much elongated and bent downwards, giving the animal the 
appearance of having a nose of a very pronounced Roman type, 
and causing the mouth to open rather downwards. 
There are two incisor teeth in the upper jaw of the adult male, 
and none in the lower jaw; in the female there are no incisors 
visible, their growth being arrested before they emerge from the 
socket. The number of molars varies in different individuals 
