57 o MANATIS AND DUGONGS. 
and are so closely connected by fossil forms, that it seems preferable to follow Mr. 
Blanford in regarding them as members of a single family—the Halicoridce. 
The Manatis. 
Genus Manatus. 
The manatis—so named from the hand-like use of the flippers when nursing 
the young—are characterised by the nostrils being situated at the apex of the 
AMERICAN MAN ATI nat. size). 
muzzle, by the rounded margin of the expanded tail, and the usual presence of 
three minute rudimentary nails on each of the flippers. In the skull, the beak and 
extremity of the lower jaw are comparatively small, and but very slightly bent 
downwards. The incisor teeth are rudimentary, being concealed beneath the horny 
plates of the mouth, and disappearing before the animal becomes adult. The cheek¬ 
teeth, of which eleven are developed on each side of the jaws, have squared crowns, 
with transverse ridges, thus presenting some resemblance to the lower teeth of the 
tapir. Generally there are seldom more than six of these teeth in use at the same 
time on one side of each jaw; the front ones falling out before those further back 
