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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XL 



felt the pull on its tail it rolled over and over on its long axis two 

 or three times. Repeatedly during these movements, it voided 

 gaseous and solid excrement which diffused the characteristic 

 odor of the dugong. The captive came up to breathe at intervals 

 of from 14 to 42 seconds, exhaled with a long and forcible "blow" 

 and inhaled with less noise and more quickly. Then the diving 

 and rolling were repeated. 



With the flood tide the boat was brought over the bar to the 

 mouth of the Wallumkreek and there anchored. Here in the 

 shallow water the animal became for the first time somewhat 

 quiet after the people had withdrawn, but when the dingies put 

 off from land again and approached it, straightway the diving 

 and struggling began anew. From this it seemed that it was 

 not so much the sight of the approaching boats as it was the 

 sound that acted upon the animal's consciousness. If a black 

 cloth or a piece of white canvas were waved above its head, the 

 animal was not visibly disturbed or only rarely. But if one 

 stamped on the deck then immediately it thrust its nose into the 

 sand in a reflex diving or escaping movement. 



It was a simple matter to secure the dugong, for the helpless 

 animal had hardly more than its great weight with which to oppose 

 its ca]>ture. A strong line was soon tied about its tail and made 

 fast to the shore, and the dugong was then rolled out of the net 

 into the water. There it appeared to feel better and began at 

 once to thrash clumsily about, and tried to hide underneath the 

 cutter. Howe\er, the strain on the line soon relaxed and with 

 but sli-lit exertlDU the dugong could be dragged into shallow 

 water. By this time it put its snout above water for breath 

 at intervals of from 17 to 05 seconds and breathed in the manner 

 above described. If anyone spoke, or struck the tiller, or rattled 

 the anchor chain, or made any other noise, the dugong started 

 off violently and tried to dive dee[)er with a movement like that of 

 the dolphins that roll head foremost over the surface of the water. 

 In these attempts the animal repeatedly struck the sand bottom 

 with considerable force. As soon as the line drew taut and the 

 (higong felt the pull, it at once executed those remarkable rapid 

 revolutions on the long axis of its body so that the line began to 

 crack. When the noise ceased, the dugong soon became quiet and 



