AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
a DECEMBER, 1887. No. 12. 
HOW THE GREAT NORTHERN SEA-COW (RY- 
TINA) BECAME EXTERMINATED. 
BY LEONHARD STEJNEGER. 
"og conclusions in regard to the extermination of the Great 
j Northern Sea-Cow (Rytina gigas) and the causes which led 
‘vit, arrived at by the Russian naturalists, Von Baer and Brandt, 
7 by them discussed in numerous publications, were regarded 
‘final, and were generally accepted, until Prof. A. E. Nordens- 
ay recently made the startling announcement that, during his 
È days’ stay at Bering Island with the “ Vega,” he discovered 
e Tovertible evidence that at least one sea-cow had survived 
3 eneral slaughter, and had been seen alive as late as 1854, 
S than eighty years after the last one was supposed to 
we been killed, This statement of Professor Nordenskiöld 
w.. < upon his interpretation of an account of a strange ~ 
om. . = Which two Bering islanders claimed to have seen 
"D era previously. Nordenskiöld gave no details to speak 
ot Y asserting that the description of the animal by the 
L tallied so completely with Steller’s description of the 
DR. °° to leave no doubt that they had really seen a living 
a 3 but, Notwithstanding this meagreness of the account, 
ty auth rdenskidld’s name was then so great ee his 
ty ony ould probably have been generally accepted. It was 
sam fortune to seca a year and a half on Bering Island 
Shy years after Nordenskidld’s visit, and, as the readers of the 
. wow | ngs of the United States National Museum”* will 
* Vol. vii., 1884, pps 181-189. 
71 
