248 
EXTINCT MONSTERS. 
description is preserved in the Mei 7 ioirs of the Academy of Sciences 
St. Petersburg. He saw it alive during his long enforced residence 
on the island. In the course of forty years, 1742-1782, it 
appears to have been exterminated, probably for the sake of its 
flesh and hide, around both Behring’s Island and Copper Island, 
to the shores of which it was, in Steller’s time, limited. 
Fig. 58 shows its skeleton, 19 ft. 6 in. long, now preserved in 
the Geological Collection at South Kensington (Glass-case N). 
The skeletons are found, in the islands, at a distance from the 
shore in old raised beaches and peat-mosses, deeply buried and 
thickly overgrown with grass. They are discovered by boring 
into the peat with an iron rod, just as timber is found in Irish 
peat-bogs. (See restoration, Plate XXVI.) 
Steller records that when he came to Behring’s Island, the Sea- 
cows fed in the shallows along the shore, and collected in herds 
like cattle. Every few minutes they raised their heads in order 
to get more air before descending again to browse on the thick 
sea-weed (probably Laminaria) surrounding the coast. With 
regard to their habits, they were very slow in their movements : 
mild and inoffensive in disposition. Their colour was dark 
brown, sometimes varied with spots. The skin was naked ; but 
thick, hard, and rugged. They are said to have sometimes 
reached a length of thirty-five feet, when full grown. Most of 
their time was spent in browsing, and whilst so occupied, were 
not easily disturbed. Their attachment to each other was great, 
so that when one was harpooned, the others made great attempts 
to rescue it. According to Steller, they were so heavy that it 
required forty men with ropes to drag the body of one to land. 
When, in 1743, the news of the discovery of Behring Island 
reached Kamtchatka, several expeditions were fitted out for the 
purpose of hunting the sea-cow and the various fur-bearing 
animals, such as the sea-otter, fur seal, and blue fox, which are 
found there ; and very soon many whaling vessels began to stop 
there to lay in a supply of sea-cow meat for food. So great was 
