CLASS I. MAMMALIA: 
ORDER 12. CETACEA. 
663 
The M. Senegalensis is about eight feet in length; it is the Woman-Fish of Purchas. All these 
species are pursued with avidity for food; in Brazil they are allowed by the Catholic Church to 
be eaten as fish on meager days, and hence are much sought after. 
Genus HALICORE : Halicorc. — On the east coast of Africa, and on the shores of the Indian 
Ocean, the place of the Manatees is taken by the animals of this genus, in which the molars are 
never more than five on each side in each jaw, while in old animals their number is reduced to 
two. The form of the upper jaw is very remarkable : it is bent downward in front of the lower 
jaw, and terminated by two rather large incisor teeth. The tail is notched. 
THE DUGOXG. 
The DuGONG, H. Dugong^ in its habits resembles the manatees, but it exceeds them in size, fall- 
grown individuals measuring eighteen or twenty feet in length. The natives of the countries near 
which they live, kill them in considerable numbers, usually capturing them with spears. The 
flesh is very delicate, and is considered a royal dish by the Malays. Westward this species extend 
to the Red Sea and the east coast of Africa, but they do not appear to be known north of the 
Eastern Archipelago, on the coasts of China and Japan. The female produces generally but one 
at a birth, and to this the mother bears such strong aff'ection that, if it is speared, she will not 
depart, but is sure to be taken also. The Malays consider this animal as almost typical of 
maternal aff'ection. The young utter a short and sharp cry, and are said to shed tears, which are 
carefully preserved by the common people as a charm, under the notion that they will secure the 
affections of those whom they love, as they attract the mother to her young. 
The H. Tahernaculi, found in the Red Sea, resembles the preceding, and is considered a dis- 
tinct species by Riippel, who named it as above, from an idea that with its skin the Jews were 
directed to cover the Tabernacle. 
The H. Australis, the Manate of Dampier, is found on the west coast of Australia. 
Genus RYTIN'A: Bytina. — Of this there was a single species, the Morskaia Korova or Sea- 
Ape of Pennant, R. gigas, or B. S teller i ; it has, however, like the Dodo, become extinct. It was 
discovered in 1741 near an island in Behring's Straits, where Behring was shipwrecked and where 
he perished, and was then abundant there. It formed the chief food of the unfortunate mariners 
who were compelled to spend ten months in that inhospitable region. It Avas twenty-five feet 
long and twenty in girth; the skin was thin, soft, and whitish, but was covered by a coat of horny 
tubes, set thick like hair. ■ These animals were long since extirpated by the adventurers who 
visited this region in search of sea-otters, and all that now remains consists of a skull and a few 
fragments of bones in European museums. 
Fossil Cetacea of several genera have been found, including numerous extinct species ; among 
them there is a skeleton of the Zeuglodon, nearly seventy feet in length, found in Alabama, and 
similar bones are found in Mississippi and Louisiana. 
SKELETON OF THE WHALE. 
