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XXVI. On the peculiarities that distinguish the Manatee of 
the West Indies from the Dugong of the East Indian seas. By 
Sir Everard Home, Bart. V. P. R. S. 
Read July 12, 1821. 
Hav r n g received from the Duke of Manchester, Governor 
of the Island of Jamaica, a manatee preserved in spirit, which 
is a species of dugong, but very different from that of which 
an account has so lately been read to the Society, I am de- 
sirous to add some observations upon this species, the whole 
tribe of animals having hitherto been little known with respect 
to their internal structure. The manatee differs in its external 
form from the dugong, the tail being much broader, and the 
ribs having greater lateral extension. As this animal feeds 
upon the plants that grow at the mouths of great rivers, and 
the dugong upon those met with in the shallows among small 
islands in the Eastern Seas, this difference of form will make 
it more buoyant and better fitted to float in fresh water ; while 
its habits of life place it between the dugong and hippopotamus. 
There are no tusks. The snout is flattened, and upon the 
ends of its toes there are nails, as is shown in the annexed 
drawing, (PL XXVI.) 
The teeth differ in number from those of the dugong, there 
being twenty-four molares, six on each side of each jaw. 
The skull has the orbit nearly a compleat circle ; the 
intermaxillary bones are curved at their union, but the length 
